UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Received          JlCnJ''  ,1900. 

Accession  No.  Q  /  fa  Q  *7    .    Class  No. 


Q  *7 


010UMI 
UBRAlfY 


ECLECTIC   SCHOOL   READINGS 


SHORT    STORIES 


OF 


OUR    SHY    NEIGHBORS 


BY 


MRS.   M.   A.   B.   KELLY 

Author  of  "A  Volume  of  Poems,"  "  Leaves  from  Nature's  Storybook,"  etc. 


NEW   YORK-:- CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 
AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 


vt 

JIOLOflft 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BY 
AMERICAN    BOOK  COMPANY. 


KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH. 
W.  P.  4 


PREFACE. 


IT  has  been  my  aim  in  arranging  the  lessons  for  this 
volume  to  select  chiefly  such  subjects,  in  the  study  of 
zoology,  as  treat  of  the  most  familiar  objects  to  be  met 
with  in  everyday  life... 

I  have  endeavored,  also,  to  give  so  clear  a  description 
of  the  form,  color,  and  habits  of  each  type  under  consid- 
eration, that  neither  teachers  nor  pupils  can  be  left  at  all 
in  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of  a  specimen  when  they  have 
it  in  hand. 

No  one  but  a  teacher  can  fully  realize  the  joy  and  the 
satisfaction  of  a  child  who  brings  to  her  a  moth,  a  cater- 
pillar, or  some  other  form  of  insect  life,  and  proudly  places 
it  in  the  rank  to  which  it  belongs. 

This  assured  success  leads  on  to  farther  and  farther 
investigation,  and  awakens  an  enthusiasm  and  a  desire  to 
become  still  better  acquainted  with  the  wonder  world  of 
nature. 

A  few  short  blackboard  exercises  every  day  will  soon 
enable  the  child  to  master  all  the  necessary  technical 
names  and  terms  involved  in  the  study  of  these  lower 
forms  of  life ;  and  it  is  far  better  to  learn  the  right  names 
of  things  at  the  outset. 

As  far  as  it  is  practicable,  each  subject  should  be  carried 
on  in  the  way  of  an  object  lesson ;  and  with  a  little 

3 


encouragement  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  every  pupil  in 
the  classroom  will  gladly  take  part  in  adding  to  the  zoolog- 
ical treasures  of  the  school  cabinet. 

Inasmuch  as  insect  life  is  supported  almost  entirely  by 
the  products  of  vegetation  (there  being  only  a  very  few 
insects  that  prey  upon  one  another),  I  have  thought  it  best 
to  give  that  subject  a  liberal  space  in  this  volume. 

It  is  now  an  accepted  truth  that  there  are  at  least  ten 
insects  to  every  plant,  and  that  a  large  majority  of  them 
are  harmful  to  vegetation. 

This  being  the  case,  it  seems  highly  important  that  a 
careful  study  be  made  both  of  the  habits  and  of  the  hab- 
itats of  these  swift  destroyers  of  plant  life. 

For  valuable  suggestions,  as  well  as  for  aid  in  points  of 
reference  to  the  highest  authorities,  I  am  greatly  indebted 
to  many  leading  investigators  in  this  line  of  work.  Prom- 
inent among  them  are :  Dr.  L.  O.  Howard,  United  States 
Entomologist;  Dr.  J.  A.  Lintner,  New  York  State  Ento- 
mologist; Dr.  A.  S.  Packard,  Brown  University,  Rhode 
Island ;  Dr.  Charles  E.  Beecher,  Yale  University,  New 
Haven,  Conn. ;  and  Dr.  D.  S.  Kellicott,  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity. 

Finally,  that  this  volume  may  prove  to  be  a  helpful 
guide  both  to  the  teacher  and  to  the  pupil  in  their  study 
of  the  more  common  types  of  animal  life,  is  the  sincere 
desire  of 

THE   AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

\J  The  Isabella  Moth 7 

The  Birth  of  a  Young  Lord 1S 

Phoebe's  Family 22 

Phoebe's  Mate ' 29 

Tent  Builders •     •     •          •  3° 

Real  Gypsies 36 

A  Little  Captive •     •  4° 

tf  Mr.  Rana's  Dinner 41 

A  Plain  Story 5° 

The  Mourning  Cloak 51 

A  Gifted  Family 56 

A  Vain  Little  Moth 6l 

The  Patched  Coat 64 

A  Crusty  Fellow ' 67 

\/ Was  it  a  Shadow? 72 

Almost  a  Bird 76 

«If" 79 

With  Auger  and  Saw.     Part  L 84 

With  Auger  and  Saw.     Part  //. 88 

V  Four  Pink  Babies    . 92 

The  Slug  Fly  and  the  Grasshopper 98 

The  Truth  of  It IO3 

"Rain  Frogs" Io8 

Moving  Day.     Parti. IJ4 

Moving  Day.     Part  I  L Il8 

5 


PAGE 

\/  Growler's  Prize 122 

\J  The  Real  Culprit !  29 

History  of  a  Bug ••-.  ?-.    ..''  V-;     .-,-...     .     f     .  131 

History  of  a  Beetle 1^5 

Dr.  Leech i^g 

/  A  Divided  Household.     Parti. 143 

A  Divided  Household.     Part  II. 149 

Born  in  a  Ditch !^ 

"I  Told  You  So" 158 

Always  at  Home 164 

A  Skillful  Spinner 168 

A  Devoted  Mother .  175 

Lines  to  a  Spider 179 

Do  You  Believe  It? 180 

Winter  Friends 182 

The  Chickadee 182 

The  Nuthatch 185 

The  Red-headed  Woodpecker 187 

The  Golden-crested  Wren 190 

The  Brown  Creeper  .     .     . 191 

The  Downy  Woodpecker 192 

Snow  Tracks 196 

The  Ruffed  Grouse 196 

The  Wood  Mouse 198 

The  Chipmunk 200 

The  Red  Squirrel .     .  202 

Reynard,  the  Fox,  and  Ranger,  the  Dog 203 

The  Weasel 205 

The  Northern  Hare 207 

The  Muskrat 209 

The  Gray  Squirrel 211 


SHORT   STORIES    OF    OUR   SHY 
NEIGHBORS. 


THE    ISABELLA    MOTH. 

ONE  day,  late  in  autumn,  Ruth  and  her  teacher 
were  walking  in  the  fields. 

All  at  once  Ruth  cried  out,  u  Oh,  see  what  a 
queer  furry  worm!  It  looks  like  a  wee  bit  of  a 
clothes  brush  moving  about." 

7 


8 

Her  teacher  smiled. 

"  It  is  not  a  worm,"  she  said.     "  It  is  sometimes 
called    a    '  wooly    bear,'    but    it    is    more    generally 
known  as  a  '  caterpillar.'  " 

"  Where   did   it  come  from  ?  "   asked 
Ruth. 

The  Larva.  „  jt  wag  hatched  from  an  egg  lajd  by  a 

mother  moth;  and  some  day  it  will  be  a  moth  itself. 

"  We  must  call  it  the  larva  of  the  moth  now ; 
for  that  is  its  right  name.  When  we  speak  of 
more  than  one,  we  call  them  larvae. 

"  The  word  '  larva '  means  '  a  mask.'  People 
sometimes  wear  a  mask  to  hide  their  faces.  Just 
so  under  this  furry  mask  is  hidden  the  form  of 
an  insect  with  four  wings." 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  its  wings,"  said  Ruth. 

"  Let  us  take  it  home  with  us,  and  put  it  into 
a  glass-covered  box;  then  we  can  watch  for  the 
coming  wings,"  replied  her  teacher. 

But  when  she  tried  to  pick  it  up,  it  rolled 
itself  into  a  little  ball  and  slid  from  her  hands. 

Then  she  slipped  a  piece  of  cloth  under  it  and 
wrapped  it  up  so  that  it  could  not  get  away. 

"  Now  look  at  this  caterpillar  closely,"  said  the 
teacher,  "  and  you  will  find  that  its  body  is 
marked  with  twelve  furry  rings ;  this  fur  is  made 
up  of  stiff,  short  hairs. 


"  The  first  four  rings  and  the  last  two  are  quite 
black;  but  the  six  rings  that  cover  the  space 
between  these  are  of  a  chestnut  brown,  —  a  color 
that  some  people  call  a  'tan  red.' 

"  Because  of  these  stiff,  spiny  hairs  and  of  the 
way  in  which  it  rolls  itself  up,  it  is  often  called  the 
'hedgehog  caterpillar';  but  when  it  lies  out  straight, 
it  is  more  than  an  inch  long,  as  you  can  see. " 

When  they  reached  home  they  put  their  furry 
friend  into  a  large  box  filled  with  clover  leaves, 
dandelion,  and  plantain. 

This  was  just  what  it  liked,  and  it  began  eating 
at  once ;  it  had  sharp  jaws  and  it  ate  very  fast. 

Ruth  and  her  teacher  watched  it  from  day  to 
day ;  but  after  a  few  weeks  it  crept  over  its  well- 
spread  table  without  offering  to  taste  its  food. 

At  last  it  crawled  slowly  away  toward  one  side 
of  the  box,  rolled  itself  up  like  a  ball,  and  fell 
into  a  sort  of  sleep. 

If  it  was  asleep,  it  took  a  very  long  nap ;  for 
it  was  now  late  in  the  fall,  and  it  did  not  wake 
up  again  till  the  next  spring. 

And  oh,  what  a  hungry  creature  it  was  then  ! 
Why,  it  ate  and  ate  every  soft,  green  leaf  that 
came  in  its  way. 

One  day,  Ruth  placed  a  large,  ripe,  sour  apple 
among  the  leaves.  It  began  at  once  to  gnaw  the 


10 


Larva  on  Apple. 


smooth  skin   of   the   fruit;    and    it   did    not    leave 
off  until  it  had  eaten    a   space    around    the    apple 

as  large  as  the  width  of  its 
own  body.  Then  it  turned 
again  to  feast  on  the  leaves, 
as  before. 

But  it  soon  grew  tired  of 
its  food  and  acted  as  if  it 
had  not  slept  enough  ;  so  it 
wove  a  little  blanket  around 
itself  and  again  went  to  sleep.  This  warm  cover- 
ing that  it  made  was  oval  in  shape,  and  of  a  dark- 
brown  color. 

And  what  is  strangest  of  all,  it  was  made  of 
the  hairs  of  its  own  body,  fastened  together  by  a 
silken  thread  which  it  spun  out  of  a  sticky  gum 
that  came  out  of  itself. 

That  was  indeed  a  home-made  cradle,  strong 
and  warm  and  safe. 

The  teacher  explained  to  Ruth  that  the  cater- 
pillar had  spun  for  itself  a 
cocoon,  as  its  cradle  is 
called,  and  that  it  was 
now  a  pupa,  a  word  which 
means  "baby."  The  Cocoon- 

"What  a  sleepyhead  this  baby  moth  is,"  said 
Ruth;  "one  would  suppose  that  it  might  need 


II 


something  more  to  eat.  Now  if  there  were  two 
or  more  of  them,  what  would  you  call  them  ?  " 

"  I  would  speak  of  them  as  the  pupae,"  answered 
the  teacher. 

"Larvae  and  pupae,"  said  Ruth  to  herself; 
"  those  are  not  very  hard  words  to  remember." 

"  If  you  could  peep  inside  of  its  cocoon,"  said 
the  teacher,  "  you  would  find  that  it  has  cast  off 
its  caterpillar  skin,  and  that  it  is  now  a  very  black 
infant,  indeed.  In  fact,  it  changed  its  dress  a  good 
many  times  before  it  spun 
its  cocoon ;  and  every  new 
dress  was  a  warm,  furry 
robe  like  the  one  in  which 
you  first  saw  it." 

The  Isabella  Moth. 

So    the    baby    slept    and 

slept  for  nearly  a  month ;  and  then  a  strange  thing 
happened.  For  one  bright  morning  in  June  it 
awoke,  and  freeing  itself  from  its  prison  cradle,  it 
came  forth  a  moth;  and  behold,  its  baby  days 
were  over ! 

It  was  not  very  strong  at  first,  for  its  wings  were 
weak,  and  were  pressed  close  to  its  body;  but  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  there  was  a  great  change. 

The  wings  grew  broader,  while  their  color  began 
to  deepen;  and  all  four  of  them  were  of  a  yellow- 
buff  tinge,  dotted  here  and  there  with  black. 


12 

The  front  pair  were  marked  with  two  or  three 
brownish  lines ;  but  the  hind  pair  were  faintly 
tinged  with  red. 

The  body  of  the  insect  was  of  a  deeper  yellow 
than  the  wings,  and  was  prettily  marked  with 
three  rows  of  black  spots,,  there  being  six  spots 
in  each  row. 

Ruth  looked   at  it  carefully.     "  It  has   six  tiny, 
brown  legs,"  she  said.     "  And  see  its  little  short 
feelers!     They  are  as  yellow  as  the 
wings." 

"  Those  feelers  are  the  antennae  of 
the  insect,"  replied  the  teacher,  "  and 
when  we  speak  of  one  of  them,  we 

Antennae  of  a       cal1    ^    tne   antenna. 

Moth.  "  You  will  not  find  that  a  hard  word 

to  speak,  after  you  have  said  it  once  or  twice ;  and 
it  is  always  better  to  call  things  by  their  right  names. 

"  You  will  see  that  these  antennae  are  round,  and 
almost  smooth ;  but  the  antennae  of  most  moths 
are  feathered.  They  look  like  little  plumes. 

"  Yet  you  can  generally  tell  a  butterfly  from  a 
moth  by  the  antennae ;  for  those  of  a  butterfly  are 
threadlike,  with  a  knob  at  the  end.  But  both  moths 
and  butterflies  belong  to  the  same  great  family l  of 
insects." 

1  Lep-i-dop'te-ra,  scale  wing 


"  But  where  are  the  eyes  ?  "  asked  Ruth. 
"  This  insect  has  so  many  eyes  that  it  would  take 
you  a  long  time  to  count  them,"  said  her  teacher. 

"  There  is  an  eye  spot  on  each 
side  of  the  head ;  and  in  each 
eye  spot  there  are  at  least  three 
thousand  small  eyes.  These  are 
called  compound  eyes,  and  be- 
sides these,  there  are  two  single 
eyes  on  top  of  the  head." 

-  No  wonder  then  that  it  is  so  Antennae  of  a  Butterfly' 
hard  to  catch  moths  and  butterflies,"  said  Ruth ; 
"  they  see  everything !  " 

"  Look  closely  at  the   wings,"  said   the   teacher. 
"  You    will    never    have    a    better 
chance  than  now;  for  they  are 
growing     stronger     every 
minute,  and  the  insect 
will  soon  fly  away." 
"  Oh,  how  pretty 
they    are !      They 
look     as     if     they 
were  covered  with 
a    mealy    powder," 

Wing  Scales  of  a  Moth.  .  ,  ...          . 

said  the  little  girl. 

"  They  are  covered  with  little  scales  that  lap  over 
one  another  like  the  scales  of  a  fish,"  answered  the 


14 

teacher,  "  and  they  are  made  fast  to  the  skin  of  the 
insect  by  short,  tiny  stems ;  you  will  see  that  the 
whole  body  is  covered  with  soft,  downy  scales,  the 
same  as  the  wings. 

"  This  pretty  little  moth  has  lost  its  caterpillar 
jaws,  and  in  their  place  there  is  a  slender  tongue ; 
for  now  it  will  live  on  the  juicy  sweets  of  the 
flowers." 

As  she  spoke,  the  insect  rose  and  floated  lightly 
away  on  its  pretty  buff-yellow  wings. 

"  Ah,  we  have  lost  our  queen,"  said  the  teacher ; 
"  she  has  gone  to  find  her  mate.  I  know  she  is  a 
queen  because  her  wings  are  of  a  deeper  yellow 
than  those  of  her  mate. 

•  ••"  And  now  I  will  tell  you  why  I  call  her  a  queen. 
She  was  named  in  honor  of  Princess  Isabella, 
daughter  of  King  Philip  II.  of  Spain. 

"  This  princess  made  a  vow  that  she  would  not 
change  her  linen  for  three  years.  She  no  doubt 
had  some  good  reason  for  it. 

"  At  any  rate,  she  kept  her  promise,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time,  her  linen  must  have  become  fully 
as  yellow  as  the  wings  of  our  little  Isabella  moth. 
So  I  think  she  is  very  well  named  ;  don't  you  ? " 

"  She  is  indeed,"  replied  Ruth ;  "  and  how  strange 
that  all  this  time  we  have  had  a  noble  queen  hidden 
under  the  furry  mask  of  a  caterpillar  J  " 


THE    BIRTH    OF    A   YOUNG    LORD. 

ONE  very  hot  day  in  July,  Mrs.  Papilio  l  decided 
to  give  a  select  party. 

And  it  was  very  select,  I  assure  you;  for  none 
but  the  swallowtail  family  were  invited. 

Now  this  family  are  noted  for  their  fine  array, 
there  being  over  three  hundred  different  styles  of 
dress  among  them ;  and  had  all  the  guests  that 
were  invited  accepted,  Mrs.  Papilio's  garden  could 
not  have  held  one  half  of  them. 

The  list  was  headed  with  the  names  of  Lord  and 
Lady  Asterias ; 2  so  they  came  early. 

I  was  glad  of  this,  for  it  gave  me  a  very  good 
opportunity  to  watch  their  movements;  and  so 
pleased  was  I  with  their  fine  appearance  that  I 
hardly  cast  a  glance  at  any  other  member  of  the 
party. 

My  lord  and  lady  came  sailing  in  upon  their  four 
showy  wings  (the  hind  wings  of  each  having  tails), 
and  seated  themselves  at  once  near  a  bed  of  parsley. 

My  lord  was  gayly  dressed  in  a  black  swallowtail 
suit,  banded  with  a  double  row  of  bright-yellow 
spots ;  and  on  each  of  the  hind  wings  was  a  row 

1  Pa-pil'i-o.     The  Latin  name  of  the  butterfly. 

2  As-te'ri-as.     The  name  of  a  peculiar  species  or  kind  of  butterfly. 


i6 


of  seven  blue   spots    between    the    outer   and    the 
inner  line  of  yellow  ones. 

But  this  was  not  all ;  for  on  the  lower,  inner  edge 
of  the  tailed  wings  was  an  eyelike  spot  of  orange 
yellow,  having  a  black  center. 


-The  Swallowtailed  Papilio. 

He  also  had  a  double  row  of  bright-yellow  spots 
on  his  back  that  looked  like  gold  buttons,  and  his 
shining  black  head  was  adorned  with  the  same 
color. 

Gold  and  black,  black  and  gold,  —  ah,  it  was  a 
fine  suit  indeed !  You  should  have  seen  it. 

My  lady  was  dressed  in  about  the  same   style, 


but  she  had  not  so  many  spots  on  her  fore  wings. 
I  saw,  at  a  glance,  that  she  was  a  good  deal  larger 
than  he ;  and  I  thought  that  maybe  there  had  not 
been  quite  enough  of  the  gilded  band  for  both  suits. 

I  noticed,  also,  that  they  each  had  six  tiny  legs, 
and  that  the  hind  pair  had  small  spurs. 

The  antennae  were  long  and  threadlike,  and  there 
was  a  knob  at  the  end  of  each ;  they  were  not 
feathered  like  those  of  the  moth. 

As  soon  as  my  lady  lit  on  the  parsley  bed,  she 
folded  all  four  of  her  wings  together,  so  that  they 
stood  upright  on  her  back.  Then  she  slowly  opened 
and  closed  them,  as  if  trying  to  fan  the  hot  July  air. 

Her  mate  lit  very  near  her  and  did  the  same 
thing.  But  they  did  not  remain  quiet  very  long; 
for  pretty  soon  my  lady  began  to  dart  here  and 
there  about  the  parsley  bed. 

Then  she  stopped  quite  still,  as  if  to  say,  "  This 
is  just  the  place  for  my  eggs.  I  like  it  much  better 
than  the  carrot,  the  pars- 
nip, the  celery,  or  even 
the  sweet  blossoms  of  the 
phlox."  Papili°- 

"  Ah,"  said  I  to  myself,  "so  you  are  the  mother  of 
those  hungry,  pale  green  caterpillars  that  I  find 
creeping  about  my  garden,  are  you  ?  I  will  watch 
those  eggs  of  yours,  my  lady." 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  2 


i8 

And  I  did  watch  them  very  carefully,  but  1  did 
not  have  to  wait  long ;  for  in  a  few  days  they  were 
hatched,  and  oh,  what  tiny  things  the  young  cater- 
pillars were ! 

Why,  it  would  have  taken  ten  of"  them,  placed 
end  to  end,  to  make  one  inch  in  length. 

But  these  babies,  like  their  parents,  were  clad  in 
fine  array ;  and  they  had  a  number  of  pretty  suits. 

Their  first  suit  was  black,  banded  with  white 
around  the  middle  and  bottom  of  the  dress ;  but  as 
they  grew  larger,  this  dress  was  cast  aside  for 
another. 

And  so  they  kept  on,  till  they  got  the  fourth  suit ; 
and  this  last  outfit  was  very  fine  indeed.  It  was 
of  an  apple-green  color,  having  black  bands  dotted 
with  bright-yellow  spots,  and  was  much  more  showy 
than  any  of  the  other  dresses  that  they  had  worn. 

You  would  not  wonder  that  they  outgrew  their 
clothes  so  quickly,  could  you  have  seen  them  eat. 

There  was  a  very  large  family  of  them,  about  two 
hundred  in  all;  and  with  their  sharp,  hungry  jaws 
they  were  not  long  in  laying  waste  that  fine  bed  of 
green  parsley,  you  may  be  sure. 

As  each  hungry  baby  had  sixteen  tiny  legs,  they 
found  no  trouble  in  creeping  about,  here,  there,  and 
everywhere. 

I  am  obliged  to  say,  right  here,  that  they  were 


'9 

not  very  good-natured  children  either,  for  when  I 
touched  any  one  of  them  with  a  small  stick,  it 
would  thrust  out,  from  behind  its  head,  a  pair  of 
orange-yellow  horns. 

And  what  was  still  worse,  these  horns  gave 
out  such  a  bad  odor  that  I  was  glad  to  get  away 
from  it. 

After  a  few  days,  they  seemed  to  have  lost  their 
appetite;  and  did  not  care  to  eat.  So  they  crept 
away  to  a  clump  of  bushes  near  by. 

Then  I  made  a  discovery.  I  found  that  each  of 
these  infants,  young  as  it  was,  knew  how  to  spin. 
It  spun  a  silken  thread,  too.  But  where  did  it  get 
its  silk  ?  I  will  tell  you. 

Each  little  spinner  of  this  sort  has,  in  the  middle 
of  its  lower  lip,  a  tiny  tube.  This  tube  opens  into 
two  long,  slender  bags  inside  of  the  spinner's  body. 

These  bags  are  filled  with  a  sticky  fluid  that  flows 
through  the  tube  in  a  very  fine  stream ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  air  strikes  it,  it  becomes  a  strong,  slender 
thread. 

And  so  these  baby  spinners  have  everything  at 
hand,  quite  ready  for  their  work.  As  I  could  not 
well  observe  them  all,  I  watched  one  of  them  care- 
fully ;  and  now  let  me  tell  you  what  he  did. 

First,  he  spun  a  small  tuft  of  silk,  and  made  it 
fast  to  the  twig  of  a  low  bush.  Then  he.  put  the 


20 

hooks  of  his  hind  feet  into  this  tufted  snare.  Next 
he  spun  a  strong,  silken  loop,  made  up  of  many 
threads,  and  glued  the  ends  of  it  fast  to  the  twig; 
but  the  ends  were  not  glued  very  closely  together. 
They  were  placed  a  little  way  apart,  so  as  to  make 
the  loop  broad  and  roomy. 

It  really  did  look  as  if  this  wise  little  creature  was 
making  a  swing  for  itself. 

But  as  soon  as  the  loop  was  made 
strong  enough,  he  put  his  head 
under  it,  and  then  worked  it  over 
his  back.  In  this  way,  he  bound 
himself  in  an  upright  position,  close 
to  the  twig. 

How  strange  that  of  his  own 
choice  he  had  become  a  helpless 

Bound  Chrysalis.  .  ,  ,    ,          ,  ir,i» 

prisoner,  "  bound  hand  and  foot ! 

In  about  twenty-four  hours,  he  cast  off  his  apple- 
green  suit,  and  became  a  pupa,  or  chrysalis.  Then 
the  skin  of  his  body  seemed  to  shrivel  up,  till  it  was 
like  a  strong,  hard  case ;  but  it  made  a  safe  cradle 
for  the  baby  to  lie  in. 

And  just  such  a  cradle  was  needed;  for  it  was 
now  nearly  October,  and  this  tender  infant  must 
remain  bound  to  that  twig  through  all  the  long 
months  of  winter. 

There  would   be  no   lullaby  song  to  soothe  it, 


21 

excepting  such  as  the  cold,  wintry  winds  sing ;  and 
that  is  a  very  harsh  song,  as  we  all  know. 

"  Will  it  ever  come  to  life  ? "  I  asked  myself,  as 
I  went  from  time  to  time  and  looked  at  the  poor, 
helpless  thing  hanging  there  in  its  silken  fetters, 
all  alone. 

But  behold !  One  day  in  the  early  part  of  June, 
the  dry  hard  pupa  case  burst  open,  and  out  came 
a  poor,  feeble,  little  butterfly,  with  four  limp,  moist 
wings. 

Instead  of  sixteen  legs  it  had  but  six;  and  in 
the  place  of  sharp,  hungry  jaws  it  had  a  slender 
tongue. 

Its  great  eyes  seemed  to  be  almost  blinded  by 
the  sudden  bright  light ;  for,  like  the  moth,  it 
had  not  only  two  simple  eyes  on  the  top  of  its 
head,  but  it  had  the  two  large,  compound  eyes 
as  well. 

It  crept  slowly  up  to  the  top  of  the  twig,  and 
then  the  weak,  drooping  wings  began  to  expand. 
Broader  and  broader  they  grew,  till  at  last  they 
were  spread  out  firm  and  free. 

And  there,  right  before  my  astonished  eyes, 
rose  up  a  beautiful  creature,  clad  in  shining  black ; 
and  I  knew  by  the  band  of  golden  spots  on  all 
four  of  its  wings  that  he  was  a  young  Lord 
Asterias ! 


22 


PHOEBE'S    FAMILY. 

MY  first  acquaintance  with  Phoebe  began  at 
the  garden  gate,  on  the  morning  that  she  and  her 
mate  called  to  look  for  lodgings. 

I  could  see,  at  a  glance,  that  their  hearts  were 
set  on  having  the  broad  beam  that  upheld  the 
roof  of  my  balcony;  so  I  made  them  welcome. 

It  was  a  bright  spring  morning,  and  I  remem- 
ber just  how  Phoebe  was  dressed. 

She  was  clad  in  a  sensible,  dull,  olive  brown ; 
her  small  crest  was  a  trifle  darker  than  her  body, 
and  underneath  she  was  of  a  yellowish  white. 

Her  eyes  were  brown,  but  her  feet,  as  well  as 
her  bill,  were  black.  The  brown  feathers  of  her 
wings  were  edged  with  a  dull  white,  and  so  was 
the  outer  edge  of  the  feathers  of  her  forked  tail. 

Her  mate  was  clad  in  about  the  same  fashion, 
only  that  the  sides  of  his  neck  were  darker. 

It  was  a  balmy  morning  in  April  when  they 
began  to  build  their  nest. 

The  whole  front  of  the  balcony  was  draped 
with  vines,  so  that  when  it  was  clothed  with  leaves 
it  made  a  heavy,  thick  curtain  of  green;  and  here 
the  nest  was  hidden,  and  secure  from  harm. 

This  nest  was  made  of  grasses  and  moss,  plas- 


Phoebe  Birds  and  Nest. 


tered  together  with  mud,  and  was  lined  with  bits 
of  down,  hair,  and  shreds  of  wool. 

Ah,  it  took  many  and  many  a  weary  flight  to 
gather  the  materials  for  that  modest  home. 

Back  and  forth,  back  and  forth,  the  happy  couple 
flew,  bearing  in  their  slender  bills  a  scrap  of  moss 


24 

or  a  mite  of  down,  till  at  last  the  whole  thing  was 
finished,  handsome  and  complete. 

I  placed  a  stepladder  conveniently  near,  where 
I  could  stand  and  look  into  the  nest;  for  although 
I  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  Phcebe  was  a 
painstaking  and  tidy  little  housekeeper,  yet  I  rather 
wanted  to  see  the  inside  of  her  home  for  myself. 

So  one  day,  when  she  and  her  mate  were  not 
there,  I  peeped  in  at  the  nest,  and  lo,  there  was 
a  small,  cream-white  egg,  spotted  on  the  larger 
end  with  reddish  brown !  I  was  very  careful  not 
to  touch  it. 

The  next  day  I  looked  in  again,  and  there  was 
another.  And  so,  day  after  day,  a  new  egg  was 
added  to  the  number,  till  there  were  five  of  them 
in  all. 

Then  I  noticed  that  Phcebe  began  to  stay  at 
home  a  good  deal;  and  if  she  did  chance  to  go 
out  for  a  little  airing,  her  mate  always  took  her 
place. 

At  length,  one  morning,  I  thought  I  heard  a 
low  peep,  and  seeing  that  both  of  the  birds  were 
away,  I  glanced  in  at  the  nest. 

There  I  saw  four  tiny  young  birds,  cuddled 
down  close  together.  I  found  that  one  of  the  eggs 
did  not  hatch,  and  that  it  had  been  thrown  out 
of  the  nest  to  the  porch. 


But  what  a  clamor  there  was  among  the  young 
ones  when  the  old  birds  came  back  with  food ! 
Why,  they  opened  their  mouths  so  wide  that  it 
did  seem  as  if  their  heads  would  split  open.  And 
such  dainty  food  as  was  brought  to  them ! 

There  were  no  wriggling  worms,  and  no  stale 
pieces  that  some  other  bird  had  discarded.  No, 
indeed!  for  Phoebe's  children  must  have  the  freshest 
meat  in  the  market. 

In  order  to  secure 
this,  it  must  be  taken 
on  the  wing ;  for  the 
couple  belonged  to  the 
family  of  flycatch- 
ers, and  woe  to  the 
unlucky  insect  that 
came  within  reach  of 
their  open  bills. 

As  for  the  parent  birds,  they  usually  bolted 
their  food  at  one  mouthful,  but  the  infants  were 
fed  in  not  quite  so  hasty  a  manner. 

And  so  they  ate  and  ate,  and  grew  stronger 
every  day,  and  when  they  were  a  week  old,  I 
thought  it  was  time  to  name  them;  so  I  gave 
each  of  them  a  pretty  double  name. 

I  called  one  of  them  Fluff  Wing ;  another, 
Feather  Down ;  a  third,  Brown  Breast ;  and  because 


Nest  of  Young  Phosbe  Birds. 


26 

the  very  smallest  one  of  the  family  looked  so  much 
like  its  mother,   I  called  her  Phoebe  Junior. 

Now,  a  better  behaved  family  of  children  one 
could  not  desire  to  see ;  there  was  no  confusion 
whatever  in  the  nest,  and  I  never  heard  an  angry 
peep  from  one  of  them. 

What  was  my  surprise,  then,  on  seeing  them 
when  they  were  a  little  more  than  two  weeks  old, 
all  sitting  in  a  row  on  the  garden  paling,  while 
both  the  father  and  mother  were  perched  on  a 
low  bough,  chirping  loudly,  in  a  harsh,  scolding 
tone. 

I  ran  to  look  into  the  nest,  thinking  that  per- 
haps some  enemy  had  driven  the  family  from  home ; 
but  I  saw  nothing. 

Finally,  in  about  an  hour,  the  young  birds  left 
their  perch,  and  flew  toward  the  nest,  a  few  paces 
at  a  time ;  for  their  wings  were  weak  and  their 
flights  were  short,  and  they  made  several  stops 
before  reaching  home. 

The  next  day,  not  hearing  any  sound  from  my 
little  neighbors,  I  peeped  in  again,  and  behold,  the 
nest  was  empty ! 

On  the  day  following,  Phoebe  and  her  mate  came 
back,  but  the  young  ones  were  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

Thv*y  at  once  began  to  clean  and  repair  the  nest. 
They  threw  out  bits  of  thread,  down,  hair,  moss, 


TJN 

27  V2^j r^ 

and  other  things  that  seemed  to  be  in  their  way; 
and  then  added  a  mite  of  down  here,  and  a  thread 
of  wool  there,  till  the  nest  was  all  ready  for  -use 
again. 

Then  Phoebe  laid  four  small,  cream-white  eggs 
like  the  others,  and  in  due  time  her  heart  was  made 
glad  by  hearing  the  faint  "  peep  peep  "  of  four  wee 
baby  birds. 

Both  parents  seemed  quite  as  proud  of  their  sec- 
ond brood  as  of  the  first,  and  were  never  weary  of 
cramming  them  with  the  rarest  tidbits  that  they 
could  find. 

And  when  the  children  were  a  little  more  than 
two  weeks  old,  they  were  driven  from  the  nest  to 
the  garden  paling,  and  were  taught  to  try  their 
wings,  in  the  same  way  as  the  other  brood. 

A  day  or  two  later,  the  whole  family  disap- 
peared ;  and  what  is  strangest  of  all,  they  went 
away  in  the  night. 

Now,  as  Phoebe  and  her  mate  had  occupied  their 
snug  quarters  all  this  time,  free  of  charge,  I  thought 
it  was  rather  ungrateful  of  them  to  steal  away  in 
such  a  manner  as  that. 

But  I  have  since  learned  that  it  is  the  habit 
of  this  family  of  flycatchers,  on  the  approach  of 
autumn,  to  forsake  the  nest  at  night,  and  travel 
southward  to  a  milder  clime. 


28 

Who  knows  but  that  their  little  hearts  are  so 
sad,  at  leaving  the  home  in  which  they  have  been 
so  happy,  that  they  can  not  well  endure  a  final 
leave-taking  in  the  open  sunlight? 

I  felt  very  lonely  after  they  were  gone,  for  I 
never  expected  to  see  them  again. 

But  behold !  when  the  genial  sunshine  and  the 
gentle  raindrops  of  the  next  spring  brought  back 
the  swelling  leaf  buds  of  the  boughs,  I  heard,  one 
day,  a  low  chirp  at  the  garden  gate. 

And  then  two  little  birds,  clad  in  dull,  olive 
brown,  flew  in  at  the  old  nest  on  the  beam ;  and 
I  hailed  their  coming  with  delight. 

One  of  them  was  Phoebe's  mate,  but  the  other 
was  a  shy  little  creature,  of  a  much  smaller  size 
than  the  Phoebe  that  I  had  known,  and  —  let  me 
whisper  a  little  secret  in  your  ear — Phoebe's  mate 
had  come  back  with  a  second  wife ! 


PHOEBE'S   MATE. 

THERE'S   a   little    brown    bird    on  that  low,   leafy 
bough  — 

Do  you  see  ?     Do  you  see  ? 
He  is  calling  his  mate,  for  I  heard  him  just  now 

Say,  "  Phoebe  "  and  "  Phoebe." 


I  do  wonder  what  secret  he  holds  in  his  breast 
Some  good  news  it  may  be 

For  the  shy  little  mate  sitting  there  on  her  nest 
His  Phoebe  —  sweet  Phcebe. 


He  is  brimful  of  joy,  and  he  sings  all  the  day; 

But  it  seems  strange  to  me 
That  this  glad  merrymaker  finds  nothing  to  say 

But  "  Phoebe"  — just  "  Phoebe." 


I   should  think  she   might  weary  of    such   a  dull 

song, 

But  not  she,  oh,  not  she ; 
It   is   music   to   her   through    the    whole   summer 

long, 
Good  Phoebe  —  fair  Phoebe. 


30 

By  and  by  they  will  find  some  wee  birds  in  that 

nest, 

He  and  she  —  he  and  she; 
And  they'll  cram  them  with  tidbits,  the  choicest 

and  best, 
And  so  proud  will  he  be 

That  hell  call  her  name  twice  where  he  calls  it 

once,  now; 

You  will  see,  you  will  see, 
If  you  '11  watch  him  some  day  when  he  sits  on  the 

bough 
With  Phoebe  — his  Phoebe. 


TENT  BUILDERS. 

"THE  gypsies  are  coming!  The  gypsies  are 
coming ! "  cried  little  May,  and  she  hurried  into  the 
house,  and  took  her  station  at  the  window. 

"How  do  you  know?"  asked  her  brother,  as 
he  slowly  followed  her  to  the  window  and  looked 
out. 

"  Because  I  can  see  their  long,  cloth-covered 
wagons  full  of  little  stolen  children." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  they  are  stolen  children  ? " 
he  said. 


"  Because  I  have  heard  that  gypsies  do  steal 
children  whenever  they  get  a  chance ;  and  I  hope 
they  will  not  pitch  their  tents  near  our  house,  for 
I  am  afraid  of  them." 

"  Why,  little  sister,  we  have  had  tent  builders  all 
around  our  house  for  months,  and  I  have  never 
heard  you  say  a  word 
about  it  before." 

"  Tent'  builders  all 
around  our  house  ! "  an- 
swered his  sister  in 
great  surprise.  "  Where 
are  they,  pray  ?  " 

"  Come,  and  I  will 
show  you,"  he  replied. 

By  this  time  the 
gypsy  wagon  had  passed 
well  out  of  sight,  and 
so  the  little  girl  was  not 
afraid  to  venture  out. 

,   Her  brother  led  the  way  to  a  large  apple  tree 
that  stood  in  one  corner  of  the  garden. 

"Look  up  at  those  boughs,"  he  said,  "and  tell 
me  what  you  see." 

"  I  don't  see  anything  but  a  lot  of  worms'  nests," 
she  replied. 

"  Those    are    not    worms'    nests,"   he    answered. 


Eggs,  Larva,  and  Butterfly  of  Tent 
Builders. 


32 

"  Worms  do  not  build  nests  like  that.  Those  are 
silken  tents,  and  they  are  just  as  full  as  they  can 
be  of  the  little  workers  that  put  them  there." 

"  Then  I  want  to  see  them,"  said  she. 

The  boy  took  up  a  long  pole  having  a  brush  at 
the  end  of  it ;  this  he  dipped  into  a  pail  of  strong 
lime  water,  and  thrust  it  into  one  of  the  nests. 

Behold !  down  tumbled  a  large  family  of  cater- 
pillars, each  one  of  them  nearly  two  inches  in 
length. 

The  heads  of  these  creatures  were  black ;  their 
bodies  were  tinged  with  yellow,  marked  with  finely- 
crinkled  black  lines,  and  there  was  a  whitish  line 
running  the  whole  length  of  their  backs. 

On  each  ring  of  the  body  there  was  a  black  spot, 
and  in  the  middle  of  each  spot  there  was  a  dot  of 
blue;  then,  too,  every  ring  of  the  body  sent  out 
thin  tufts  of  soft,  short  hairs. 

"  You  see  these  little  busybodies  wear  gay  colors," 
said  the  boy. 

Little  May  looked  at  the  squirming  caterpillars 
for  a  few  moments,  and  then  said,  "  How  is  it  that 
so  many  of  them  happen  to  be  living  together  on 
one  apple  tree  ?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  he  replied. 

"  One  day,  a  mother  moth  laid  about  four  hundred 
eggs  around  the  end  of  a  twig  or  branch ;  these 


33 


eggs  were  crowded  close  together  and  formed  a 
solid  ring.  They  were  very  pretty,  too,  for  they 
looked  like  little  pearls. 

"  Then,  to  keep  them  warm  and  dry,  she  covered 
them  with  a  thick,  dry  varnish ;  and  no  matter  how 
hard  the  rain  came  down, 
her    eggs    could    not    get 
wet. 

"  As  soon  as  the  leaves 
of  the  apple  tree  began  to 
unfold,  the  wee  babies  came 
out  of  their  shells,  as  hun- 
gry as  they  could  be. 

"  Then  they  joined  to- 
gether and  built  a  tent. 
And  do  you  notice  that  all 
their  tents  are  built  in  the 
forks  of  the  branches  ? 
That  makes  them  more 
secure. 

"  Now  when  they  are  not 

eating,  they  hide  themselves  under  this  weblike 
tent.  Are  they  not  wise  little  builders  ? 

"  They  crawl  about  all  over  the  tree ;  but,  young 
as  they  are,  they  never  lose  their  way,  for  they  spin 
a  silken  thread  as  they  go  along,  and  this  thread 
guides  them  back  to  the  tent. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  3 


Tent. 


34 

"  As  they  grow  older  and  larger,  they  find  their 
tent  too  small;  and  then  they  build  it  out,  so  that 
all  can  have  plenty  of  room. 

"  These  infants  seem  to  know  how  to  take  care 
of  their  health,  too;  for  they  have  only  two  meals 
a  day,  and  not  even  the  smallest  baby  among  them 
thinks  of  such  a  thing  as  eating  between  meals. 

"  And  what  is  more,  they  will  not  venture  out 
when  it  rains ;  they  would  rather  go  hungry  than 
get  their  bodies  wet. 

"  But  about  the  first  week  in  June,  this  happy 
family  will  begin  to  separate,  one  from  another. 

"  Then  they  will  wander  about  in  a  lonesome  sort 
of  a  way  till  they  finally  reach  some  sheltered  place, 
and    then  each   one  will   weave  for 
itself  a  cocoon. 

"  This  will  be  a  sort  of  silken  web, 
and  it  would  be  a  very  frail  affair 
indeed,  only  that  such  cocoons  are 
held  together  by  a  thin  paste ;  but 
when  this  paste  becomes  dried,  it 
looks  like  yellow  dust. 

"  They  will  stay  in  these  cocoons  a  little  more 
than  two  weeks,  and  then  they  will  come  out  full- 
grown  moths." 

"  But  how  can  they  get  out  of  a  cocoon  that  is 
woven  of  silk  ?  "  asked  the  little  girl 


35 

"  Oh,  they  moisten  one  end  of  it  so  as  to  make 
it  soft,  and  then  they  can  easily  press  through  the 
opening. 

"  And  now  would  you  like  to  see  the  mother, 
herself  ?  "  he  inquired. 

She  followed  him  to  his  room,  and  he  showed 
her  a  small  cabinet  having  a  glass  door.  In  this 
cabinet  were  two  moths,  pinned  one  above  the 
other;  but  the  female  moth  was  much  larger  than 
the  male. 

They  were  clothed  in  a  color  of  reddish  brown; 
and  each  of  the  fore  wings  was  crossed  by  two 
dull,  whitish  lines  that  did  not  run  straight  across 
the  wings,  but  were  a  trifle  slanting. 

The  upper  portion  of  their  bodies  was  tufted 
with  short,  soft  hairs.  Some  of  these  hairs  were 
brown,  some  were  yellow;  but  the  mother  moth 
had  a  few  that  were  tinged  with  red. 

May  looked  at  the  insects  very  closely;  but 
her  brother  noticed  that  she  seemed  to  be  dis- 
appointed. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  he ;  "  these  are  only  the 
moths  of  the  tent  caterpillar;  and  now  you  shall 
come  with  me  and  I  will  show  you  some  real 
gypsy  moths ;  and  when  I  tell  you  all  about  them, 
you  will  agree  with  me  that  they  are  rightly 
named." 


REAL   GYPSIES. 

LITTLE  May's  brother  had  another  cabinet  in 
which  there  was  a  large  collection  of  insects ;  and 
when  he  opened  the  door  of  this  one,  the  little 
girl  again  saw  two  moths. 

"  One  of  these  moths  is  a  gypsy  queen,"  he 
said.  "  Can  you  tell  which  one  it  is  ? " 

"  I  think  it  is  the  one  that  wears  the  soiled 
white  dress,"  replied  the  child ;  "  for  it  would  be 
just  like  a  gypsy  queen  to  wear  such  a  dress 
as  that." 

Her  brother  smiled.     "  You  are  right,"  said  he. 

"  It  is  her  mate  that  wears  the  coat  of  brownish 
yellow,  and  he  is  much  smaller  than  she.  See 
how  prettily  his  hind  wings  are  bordered  at  the 
margin  with  brown." 

"  But  they  both  have  dark-brown  lines  on  their 
fore  wings,"  said  the  girl,  "  and  the  fine  fringe  of 
their  edges  is  broken  by,  —  let  me  count,  —  yes, 
there  are  eight  dark-brown  spots  along  the  edge 
of  each  wing.  Isn't  it  pretty  ?  " 

u  Very  pretty,"  he  said,  "  but  I  can  plainly  see 
that  you  are  not  so  well  pleased  with  some  of  the 
queen's  finery." 

"  I    do    not   call    that  finery"   replied    the   girl. 


37 

"  Her  dress  is  of  a  dirty  white ;  and  her  antennae 
are  not  so  prettily  feathered  as  those  of  her  mate. 
No,  I  do  not  like  her  at  all. 

"  Besides  I  can  not  see  why  she  is  any  more  a 
gypsy  queen  than  the  mother  moth  of  the  tent 
caterpillar  in  the  other  cabinet." 

"You  are  right,"  replied  her  brother.  "She  is 
not  a  queen  at  all  —  that  is  only  a  title  that  I 
have  given  her.  But  she  is  a  real  gypsy  moth, 
and  now  I  will  tell  you  why  she  has  received  this 
name ;  and  then  you  will  see  that  she  has  a  right 
to  it. 

"  Many  years  ago,  a  gentleman  who  was  studying 
the  habits  of  moths  brought  a  few  eggs  of  this 
kind  to  our  country,  from  over  the  sea. 

"  One  day,  he  laid  them  on  the  sill 
of  an  open  window,  and  when  he 
turned  to  look  for  them  they  were 
gone. 

"  The  wind  had  scattered  them  far 
and  wide ;  and  this  proved  to  be  a 
great  misfortune,  as  you  will  pres- 
ently learn. 

"  The  Qfypsy  moth  lays  a  large  num- 

r  n  i     ,1  Gypsy  Moth  Eggs. 

ber  of  cream-yellow  eggs;    and  these 

eggs  she  covers  with  soft  hairs  plucked  from  her 

own  body. 


38 

"She  takes  care  to  place  them  on  the  under 
side  of  leaves,  twigs,  and  branches,  in  such  a  way 
that  no  harm  can  come  to  them ;  and  so  nearly 
every  egg  brings  forth  a  caterpillar. 

"  Even  those  eggs  that  were  blown  away  by 
the  wind  soon  hatched  out ;  and  I  now  will  show 
you  what  the  caterpillars  were  like." 

Then  little  May  saw,  pinned  fast  to  the  back 
of  the  cabinet,  a  somewhat  shriveled-up  larval 
baby,  nearly  two  inches  in  length. 

It  had  a  very  black  head ;  and  its  body  was 
of  a  brownish  yellow,  having  a  pale-yellow  line 
running  along  the  middle  of  the  back.  On  each 
side  of  this  line  was  a  row  of  spots,  five  of  which 
were  blue,  and  the  others  were  of  a  deep-crimson 
shade.  / 

There  were  tufts  of  hairs  all  along 
the  sides  of  the  body ;  and  although  it  was 
clothed,  for  the  most  part,  in  bright  colors, 
it  was  an  ugly  thing  to  look  at. 

"  These  caterpillars,"  said  her  brother, 
"are  very  hungry  creatures;  and  they 
travel  about  everywhere,  devouring  all  the 
tender,  green  things  that  they  chance  to 
find. 

"When  they  have  stripped  a  twig  or  Larja  s°f 
a  branch  of  its  leaves,  they  spin  a  slender,  Moth. 


39 


silken  thread  and  let  themselves  down  to  the  earth ; 
and  then,  like  the  true  gypsies  that  they  are,  they 
roam  about  till  they  find  something  to  eat  else- 
where." 

"  But  how  can  you 
be  so  cruel  as  to  pin 
them  fast  ?  "  asked 
the  child. 

"  Oh,  I  never  run  a 
pin  through  the  body 
of  any  insect  while  it 
is  alive,  little  sister; 
that  would  be  cruel 
indeed. 

"  I  put  them  in 
a  covered  box  and  Gypsy  Moths. 

smother  them  with  something  that  kills  them  in- 
stantly; and  when  I  am  quite  sure  that  they  are 
dead,  I  place  them  here  in  the  cabinet  as  you  see 
them  now ;  and  in  that  way  I  make  a  good  use  of 
them. 

"  For  by  this  means,  I  have  been  able  to  show 
you  a  family  of  gypsies  that  are  much  more  to  be 
feared  than  that  small  band  of  sun-browned  men 
and  women  who  have  pitched  their  tents  in  the 
edge  of  the  forest  yonder. 

"  It  is  true,  such  people  as  those  may  now  and 


40 

then  carry  off  a  few  supplies  from  our  gardens ; 
but  they  will  not  destroy  every  green  thing  in  their 
way,  so  as  to  leave  nothing  behind  them  but  with- 
ered vines  and  leafless  trees,  as  these  gypsy  insects 
do." 

Little  May  was  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then  she 
said,  "  These  gypsy  moths  are  very  bad  insects 
indeed  ;  but  after  all,  they  do  not  steal  their  babies, 
and  our  real,  grown-up  gypsies  do." 

And  with  that,  she  ran  away  to  the  attic  to  watch, 
at  a  safe  distance,  that  strange  company  of  restless 
rovers  whose  great-great-grandfathers,  like  those 
of  the  gypsy  moth,  were  born  in  a  far-away  land 
beyond  the  sea. 


A    LITTLE   CAPTIVE. 

So,  Madam,  I've  caught  you  at  last ; 

Pray,  why  did  you  venture  so  near  ? 
Your  four  dainty  pinions  are  fast ; 

Tis  useless  to  struggle,  my  dear. 

Ah,  little  you've  gained,  pretty  one, 
In  breaking  your  self-woven  chain, 

To  flaunt  your  fine  robes  in  the  sun 
If  you  must  a  captive  remain. 


41 

To  sit  in  the  heart  of  the  flowers, 
To  drink  of  their  honey  and  dew, 

To  flit  amid  rose-scented  bowers, 
Gay  butterfly,  this  is  for  you. 

'Tis  yours  in  the  sunbeams  to  sport 
On  bright,  jeweled  wings  all  the  day ; 

And  since  you're  glad  life  is  so  short, 
Here's  freedom,  my  lady,  —  away! 


A  Captive. 

MR.  RANA'S1  DINNER. 

A  FROG  and  his  mate  that  had  lain  rolled  up  in 
their  mud  blankets  all  winter  came  up  into  the  sun- 
shine one  spring  day,  and  sat  down  on  an  old,  mossy 
log. 

1  Ra'na,  the  family  name  of  the  frog. 


42 

Just  before  they  leaped  out  of  the  water,  the 
female  laid  a  number  of  dark,  round  eggs,  inclosed 
in  a  thin,  gluey  case. 

This  egg  case  of  the  frog  swells  out  in  the  water 
and  looks  like  a  mass  of  jelly.  It  takes  about  a 
month  for  the  egg  of  a  frog  to  hatch  out;  and  the 
little  creature  that  comes  out  of  it  is  called  a  tadpole. 
Just  as  soon  as  it  is  hatched,  it  begins  to  swim 
about  in  search  of  food,  and  it  is  then  very  active ; 

but  it  would  quickly  die 
if  it  were  taken  out  of 
the  water.  It  has  a  pair 
of  small,  horny  jaws  with 
which  it  feeds  upon  soft 
animal  food,  as  well  as 
upon  the  tender  roots  and 

The  Frog.  .  - 

leaves  of  water  plants. 

Upon  its  upper  jaw  there  is  a  row  of  very  fine 
teeth  ;  but  the  lower  jaw  is  toothless. 

Its  wide  mouth  extends  more  than  half  way  round 
its  head,  and  its  two  nostrils  open  upon  the  inside 
of  the  head. 

Just  back  of  each  bulging  eye  there  is  a  round 
patch  of  thin,  tight  skin  that  forms  the  eardrum. 

This  tadpole,  or  baby  frog,  is  a  queer-looking 
creature ;  it  has  a  large  head,  a  long  flat  tail,  and  no 
limbs  at  all. 


43 

But  it  does  not  remain  in  this  condition  long;  for 
pretty  soon  it  gets  a  pair  of  hind  legs,  and  then  a 
pair  of  fore  legs  ;  and  as  soon  as  its  fore  legs  appear, 
it  has  a  tongue.  Then  it  can  see,  hear,  taste,  and 
smell. 

Its  hind  legs  grow  very  fast,  and  as  they  get  larger 
and  larger,  its  tail  becomes  smaller  and  smaller,  till 
at  last  it  disappears  altogether. 


Eggs,  Tadpoles,  and  Frogs. 

But  the  tail  of  a  tadpole  never  drops  off,  although 
some  very  ignorant  people  declare  that  it  does.  If 
they  would  collect  a  few  tadpoles  and  put  them  into 
a  wide-mouthed  jar,  they  could  easily  watch  their 
growth,  and  then  they  would  see  for  themselves  that 
the  tail  becomes  a  part  of  the  young  frog's  body. 


44 

Now,  as  I  have  told  you  before,  our  baby  frog  can 
not  live  out  of  the  water.  How,  then,  does  he 
breathe  ?  I  will  tell  you. 

On  each  side  of  his  head  there  is  a  small  tuft 
that  is  made  up  of  thin,  horny  plates.  These  tufts 
are  called  gills ;  and  as  the  water  passes  through 
these  small  gills,  it  is  separated  from  the  air  that  is 
in  it,  and  in  this  way  the  little  tadpole  gets  all  the 
air  that  he  needs  to  support  life. 

But  as  soon  as  he  becomes  a  frog,  he  can  no 
longer  live  all  the  time  under  the  water;  for  he  is 
then  a  changed  creature,  and  instead  of  breathing 
through  gills,  he  has  a  pair  of  lungs. 

So  when  he  comes  to  the  surface  of  the  water  for 
air,  he  gets  his  first  glimpse  of  the  great  world 
around  him ;  and  what  a  strange  sight  it  must  be ! 

But  while  frogs  breathe  through  lungs,  they  also 
breathe  through  the  pores  of  the  skin,  which  have 
to  be  kept  moist  most  of  the  time ;  and  if  a  frog  is 
left  out  of  the  water  too  long,  he  will  die. 

It  takes  about  five  years  for  these  animals  to  get 
their  full  growth,  from  the  time  they  are  hatched 
from  the  egg;  and  as  they  become  too  large  for 
their  skins,  they  pull  them  off  over  their  heads. 

Their  cousins,  the  toads,  do  the  same  thing  with 
their  warty  hides ;  and  both  toads  and  frogs  have 
been  known  to  live  to  be  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age. 


45 

But  toads,  unlike  frogs,  can  live  all  the  time  on  the 
land ;  and  they  never  visit  the  water  except  to  lay 
their  eggs  there. 

Now  let  us  see  what  became  of  our  two  friends 
on  the  old  mossy  log. 

Ah,  well,  they  had  not  been  sitting  on  the  log 
very  long^  when  they  heard  a  loud  noise  that  fright- 
ened them,  and  in  an  instant  they  were  back  in  the 
water,  and  were  lost  to  sight. 

After  awhile,  they  came  up  to  the  surface,  and 
leaped  upon  the  log  as  before. 

Then  the  largest  one  said,  in  a  harsh,  croaking 
tone,  "Well,  I  wonder  what  will  happen  next? 
There  seems  to  be  no  peace  for  us  anywhere. 

"  If  we  had  only  tried  to  be  contented  when  we 
were  tadpoles,  how  much  happier  we  might  have 
been ;  but  young  ones  never  know  when  they  are 
well  off. 

"  For  I  remember  well  that  I  could  hardly  wait  to 
see  the  last  bit  of  my  tail  disappear,  —  I  was  in  such  a 
hurry  to  put  on  this  shining,  spotted  coat ;  and  now 
that  I  have  it  on,  see  what  trouble  it  brings  me." 

On  each  side  of  the  frog's  neck  there  was  a 
large  sac  which  filled  with  air  every  time  that  he 
spoke;  and  that  is  why  his  voice  had  such  a 
croaking  tone.  »/ 

"  What  you  say  is  very  true,"  replied  his  mate ; 


46 

"but  it  does  seem  good  to  have  a  tongue  in  one's 
head,  after  all." 

There  was  no  harsh,  croaking  sound  in  her 
voice,  for  a  mother  frog  has  no  air  sacs  in  the 
sides  of  her  neck  to  produce  it. 

As  she  spoke,  she  darted  her  tongue   out  very 
swiftly,  and  caught  a  large  fly  that  went  buzzing 
past;    and  presently  her  mate  did 
the  same  thing. 

Now  the  tongue  of  these  ani- 
mals is  large,  flat,  and  fleshy,  and 
is  tied  fast  to  the  jaws  in  front,  so 

Jaw  and  Tongue  of      ^    wnen    it    is    at     rest,    it    points 

backward,  toward  the  throat. 

But  if  an  insect  of  any  kind  ventures  too  near, 
out  flies  this  very  nimble  member,  and  glues  it 
fast.  For  on  the  tongue  of  both  the  frog  and 
the  toad,  there  is  always  a  thick  fluid  that  is  as 
sticky  as  glue. 

But  the  poor  frogs  did  not  have  a  change  to 
enjoy  their  banquet  very  long;  for  not  far  away 
there  was  a  group  of  boys  with  a  fishing  basket 
and  a  strongly  woven  net,  and  as  soon  as  they 
spied  the  frogs,  they  crept  very  softly  towards 
them. 

"  I  wonder  what  a  frog  would  do  without  its 
head,"  said  one  of  the  boys. 


47 

"  Or  without  its  brain,"  said  another. 

At  this,  both  frogs  held  up  their  heads  and 
listened. 

"  Did  you  hear  that  ? "  croaked   the  larger  one. 

"What  would  I  do  without  my  brain,  indeed! 
Why,  it  is  my  brain  that  sets  me  to  thinking. 

"  And  as  for  my  head,  it  is  fully  one  third  the 
size  of  my  body,  so  how  could  I  do  without 
that  ? " 

Then  he  raised  one  of  his  short  fore  legs  and 
pointed  towards  his  head  with  his  four  small  fin- 
gers; and  at  the  same  time,  he  stretched  out  his 
very  long  hind  legs,  spreading  apart  the  five 
webbed  toes  on  each  foot  as  if  getting  ready  for 
a  leap. 

But  before  he  was  aware  of  it,  both  he  and  his 
mate  were  caught  in  the  fine  meshes  of  a  net, 
and  were  dragged  from  the  log. 

As  the  boys  were  walking  along  with  their  prize, 
they  met  their  teacher  on  the  way. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  those  frogs?" 
said  he. 

"  We  shall  broil  their  hind  legs  and  have  them 
for  our  dinner,"  they  replied. 

At  this,  the  male  frog  opened  his  wide  mouth, 
and  gave  such  a  loud  croak  that  the  boys  dropped 
their  basket  on  the  ground. 


48 

"  If  you  will  come  with  me,"  said  the  teacher, 
"  I  will  place  a  foot  of  one  of  your  frogs  under 
my  microscope ;  then  you  can  see  the  fine  drops 
of  blood  in  the  thin  web  that  holds  its  long  toes 
together." 

The   boys  were  delighted;    and  very  soon  they 
had    the    pleasure    of   seeing   this  web    through  a 
glass  that  made  even  the  smallest  atoms 
look  very  large. 

The  little  drops  of  blood  followed  one 
another  in  such  a  way  that  one  of  the 
boys  said,  "  Why,  they  look  ever  so  much 
like  the  fine  grains  of  red  sand  that  fall 
from  the  upper  part  of  an  hourglass ! " 

They  were  never  weary  of  watching  it; 
but  the  teacher  said  that  it  would  be  cruel 
to  keep  the  animals  out  of  the  water  too 
Foot  of  a      long,  and  that  he  thought  they  had  earned 
their  liberty,  and  ought  to  be  carried  back 
to  the  pond. 

So  they  were  placed  in  a  tub  of  water,  and 
covered  up  carefully,  till  after  dinner.  , 

But  when  the  cover  of  the  tub  was  removed,  be- 
hold, the  male  frog  was  the  only  one  to  be  found ! 

What  could  have  become  of  the  other?  The 
cover  was  put  on  so  securely  that  neither  of  the 
animals  could  leap  out.  But  there  sat  the  larger 


49 

frog,  all  alone,  looking  a  good  deal  puffed  up,  and 
quite  stupid,  withal. 

Now,  inasmuch  as  these  animals  have  no  ribs 
at  all,  they  sometimes  look  very  lank,  and  at  other 
times  very  full. 

As  the  boys  stood  staring  at  him  in  amazement, 
one  of  them  said,  "  Where  is  your  companion, 
my  fat  fellow  ? "  At  this  question,  the  frog  drew  a 
film  over  his  eyes,  and  pretended  to  be  asleep. 

Now,  toads,  frogs,  and  other  animals  of  this  class 
have  three  eyelids;  and  this  third  eyelid  that  the 
frog  drew  over  his  eyes  is  a  very  thin  film  indeed. 

But  his  pretense  of  being  sound  asleep  did  not 
aid  him  in  the  least;  for  the  teacher  said,  "  Ah, 
Mr.  Rana,  I  greatly  fear  that  you  will  never  see 
the  slimy  waters  of  your  native  pond  again.  For 
we  shall  not  permit  you  to  get  a  second  mate  till 
we  find  out  what  you  have  done  with  the  first  one." 

Then  he  caught  him,  and  smothered  him  with 
a  piece  of  soft  cotton  soaked  in  ether,  so  that  he 
died  quickly  and  without  pain.  And  when  his 
stout  body  was  opened,  there  lay  his  lifeless  mate, 
stretched  out  at  full  length  in  his  stomach. 

Now  the  truth  is,  that  while  we  were  all  taking 
our  dinner,  this  greedy  fellow  happened  to  think 
that  it  was  about  time  for  him  to  dine  also. 

And  finding  nothing  nearer  at  hand,  he  seized 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH. —  4 


upon  his  helpless  mate,  and  gulped  her  down, 
without  the  least  scruple  whatever;  but  it  is  no 
more  than  fair  to  say  that  had  she  been  the  larger 
and  stronger  of  the  two,  she  would  have  devoured 
him,  instead  of  being  eaten  herself. 

Ah,  Mr.  Rana,  you  no  doubt  greatly  enjoyed 
that  dinner ;  but  it  might  possibly  have  taken  away 
the  keen  edge  of  your  appetite,  had  you  known 
that  it  was  to  be  your  last  meal ! 


I 


The  Common  Toad, 

A   PLAIN    STORY. 

I'M  a  clumsy,  awkward  toad, 
And  I  hop  along  the  road  — 

'Tis  the  only  way  we  toads  can  well  meander; 
While  in  yonder  marshy  bog, 
Leaps  my  relative,  the  frog, 

Very  near  my  aunt,  the  water  salamander. 


And  if  you  should  ever  stray 

Near  a  slimy  pool,  some  day, 
And  along  its  grassy  margin  chance  to  loiter, 

Do  not  pass  it  lightly  by, 

For  it  is  the  spot  where  I 
Was  born,  a  lively  little  tadpole  in  the  water. 

And  although  I  take  no  pride 

In  my  ugly,  warty  hide, 
Yet  they  say  within  my  head  there  is  a  jewel ; 

But  I  hope  you  will  not  tell, 

For  you  all  know,  very  well, 
That  some  boys  (whom  I  could  name)  are  very  cruel. 

I'm  a  homely,  harmless  thing, 
I  catch  insects  on  the  wing, 

And  in  this,  I  serve  you  all,  it  is  my  duty; 
And  now  tell  me,  which  is  best 
To  be  useless  and  well  dressed, 

Or  be  useful,  even  though  I  have  no  beauty  ? 

THE   MOURNING   CLOAK.1 

IT  was  a  very  sunny  day  in  March,  just  such  a 
day  as  one  might  mistake  for  April. 

But    April    had    not   come  yet ;    for  there  were 

1  Van-es'sa  An-ti-o'pa,  the  name  of  a  particular  kind  of  butterfly. 


patches  of  snow  here  and  there  upon  the  hilltops, 
and  the  air  was  not  without  a  touch  of  frost. 

Yet  it  really  did  seem  so  much  like  spring  that 

many  a  shy  thing  peeped 
out  from  its  hidden  nook, 
as  if  wondering  whether 
the    long,    wintry    months 
were  really  over. 
The  little  pussy  cats  of  the 
willow  sat  in  double  rows  along 
the  stem,  all  ready  to  throw  off 
their  scaly  cloaks  so  as  to  make  a 
fine    display    of    their   soft,  mouse- 
colored  fur. 

And     the     squirrels     and     chipmunks 
sported  about  as  if  they  had  never  seen 
a  hard,  crusted  snowdrift  in  all  their  lives. 
Far    down    in    the    meadow    there    was    a 
great   heap   of    stones,   from    which    the 
snow  had  melted  away;    and  even  this 
rough,  hard  pile  held  its  share  of  win- 
ter's   hidden    treasures,    as    you    will 
presently  see. 
For  in   a  deep  space  between   two  large  stones 
there  was  the  faint  flutter  of  a  tiny  sash  of  gold. 
Was  it  the  gilded  border  of  a  fairy  queen's  mantle? 
Ah,  but   there   was    another,   and    still    another ! 


Pussy  Willows. 


53 

And  some  of  them  had  the  edges  badly  soiled  and 
torn. 

There  were  so  many,  in  fact,  that  it  looked  as  if 
there  might  be  a  whole  band  of  fairies  shut  up  in 
that  strong,  stone  fortress. 

And  so  it  proved  that  a  large  troupe  of  fairy 
beings  had  been  caught  in  a  November  snowstorm, 
and  had  fled  to  this  stony  refuge  for  safety. 

And  there  they  had  remained  during  the  long, 
dreary  winter,  waiting  for  the  warm  breath  of  spring- 
to  float  over  their  hiding  place  and  set  them  free. 

Now  can  you  guess  what  this  fairy  circle  was  ? 
I  will  tell  you.  It  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
a  family  of  butterflies  that  had  hidden  themselves 
away  during  the  winter,  so  as  to  come  out  and  greet 
the  pale  sunbeams  of  the  early  spring. 

The  helpless,  almost  lifeless  little  creatures  were 
very  closely  huddled  together  as  if  to  keep  one 
another  warm ;  and  they  had  no  doubt  found  it 
quite  a  safe  stronghold  for  their  winter  quarters. 

Each  one  had  its  wings  folded  closely  together 
above  its  back,  as  if  it  had  settled  down  for  a  very 
long  nap. 

The  wings  of  this  family  of  butterflies  are  of  a 
purplish  brown  above,  prettily  edged  with  a  broad 
band  of  buff ;  and  near  this  yellow  edge  there  is  a 
row  of  pale-blue  spots. 


54 

But  the  under  part  of  the  wings  is  of  a  much 
darker  color;  it  is  of  a  dull  blue-black,  marked,  here 
and  there,  with  a  few  faint  streaks  of  a  lighter  hue. 

It  is  perhaps  on  account  of  its  somber  shade  that 
this  insect  is  sometimes  called  the  mourning  cloak. 


Mourning  Cloak  Butterflies. 

Not  very  many  butterflies  are  able  to  live  through 
the  cold  weather ;  but  quite  a  number  of  this  family 
may  often  be  found  in  midwinter,  sticking  fast  to 
the  rafters  of  old  buildings,  and  in  the  cracks  of 
stone  walls. 


55 


When  found  in  this  way,  they  appear  to  be  dead ; 
but  if  they  are  placed  in  the  warm  sunshine,  they 
will  soon  show  signs  of  life,  and  become  as  active 
as  ever. 

They  are  very  welcome  visitors  in  early  spring, 
even     though     their     pretty 
wings    are    often    somewhat 
faded  and  torn. 

A  very  close  observer1  of 
insects  and  of  their 'habits 
tells  us  that  this  butterfly,  if 
disturbed,  will  often  fold  up 
its  legs  and  appear  to  be 
dead.  I  wonder  if  it  thinks 
it  will  escape  harm  by  doing 
that! 

Its  larval  babies  are  homely 
things,  and  they  are  hungry 
things  too ;  they  feed  on  the 
leaves  of  the  poplar,  the  elm, 
and  the  willow. 

And  like  their  parents,  they  huddle  together  as 
closely  as  possible ;  so  closely,  indeed,  that  it  does 
seem  as  if  they  would  all  feed  on  the  same  leaf  if 
they  could. 

Sometimes  they  crowd  so  thickly  upon  a  single 

1  Dr.  J.  A.  Lintner,  N.  Y.  State  Entomologist. 


Larvae  of  the  Mourning 
Cloak. 


56 

branch  that  they  bend  it  dcwn  very  low  with  their 
weight.  So  you  may  be  sure  that  it  does  not  take 
them  a  great  while  to  strip  a  tree  of  its  green  leaves. 

These  black,  bristly  creatures  are  marked  with 
very  small,  white  dots ;  and  there  is  a  row  of  eight 
brick-red  spots  along  the  back. 

As  they  creep  along  over  the  trees,  they  eat  and 
grow,  and  eat  and  grow,  while  all  along  their  track 
may  be  found  their  shriveled,  cast-off  clothing. 

And  now,  should  you  chance  to  come  across  a 
family  of  these  ugly  larval  children,  you  need  have 
no  fear  of  their  black,  bristly  spines,  for  they  will 
not  harm  you. 

And  if  you  will  gather  a  few  of  them,  and  feed 
them  on  the  leaves  that  they  like  best,  they  will 
enter  the  pupa  state  after  a  time;  and  then,  in  a 
little  less  than  two  weeks,  they  will  all  come  forth, 
each  one  clad  in  a  mourning  cloak. 

A   GIFTED    FAMILY. 

Do  you  know  the  brown  thrasher?  He  is  own 
cousin  to  the  mocking  bird,  and  is  a  noted  singer. 

He  wears  a  coat  of  cinnamon  red,  trimmed  with 
brown,  and  marked  at  the  edges  with  lines  of  white. 
His  vest  is  of  a  somewhat  lighter  shade,  and  is 
streaked  with  dark-brown  lines. 


57 


When  he  is  on  the  wing,  he  spreads  out  his 
yellowish-red  tail  feathers  like  the  rays  of  a  fan. 

He  knows  so  many  tunes,  and  can  sing  in  so 
many  different  voices,  that  he  is  often  called  the 
brown  mocker;  and  he  sometimes  gives  such  fine 
evening  concerts  that  he  has  won  for  himself  the 
title  of  "  nightingale." 
But  he  is  not  the  real 
nightingale  that  we  read 
so  much  about. 

He  belongs  to  the 
thrush  family,  and  is 
the  largest  of  them  all ; 
in  fact,  he  is  a  brown 
thrush,  if  you  call  him 
by  his  real,  plain,  home- 
spun name,  leaving  off 
his  titles. 

You  should  see  him 
when  the  cherry  trees 

and  the  hedgerows  are  in  blossom !  His  throat  is 
so  brimful  of  melody  then,  that  it  runs  over;  and 
his  gushing  strains,  so  sweet  and  clear,  may  be 
heard  a  half  mile  away. 

A  pair  of  these  birds  once  made  a  nest  in  a 
thicket  of  briers  very  near  the  ground.  It  was 
built  of  small  sticks,  filled  in  with  layers  of  dry 


The  Brown  Thrasher. 


58 

leaves,  and  was  lined  with  fine,  threadlike  roots; 
but  there  was  no  mud  plaster  to  make  it  firm  and 
strong. 

These  birds  build  so  low  that  the  rough  winds 
can  not  shake  their  nests,  so  they  do  not  need  to 
make  them  very  secure. 

Within  the  nest  the  mother  bird  laid  five 
greenish-white  eggs,  dotted  with  reddish  brown ; 
they  were  prettily  ovate  in  form,  and  were  nearly 
an  inch  in  length. 

Now  it  happened,  one  day,  while  the  owners  of 
this  small  abode  were  away  from  home,  that  a  large, 
black  snake  took  it  upon  himself  to  visit  their  quar- 
ters, in  search  of  fresh  eggs. 

He  had  hardly  made  his  way  through  the  tangled 
briers  when  the  two  birds  returned,  and,  finding  the 
intruder's  head  so  near  their  open  door,  they  flew 
at  him  in  a  great  fury. 

They  beat  him  with  their  strong  wings,  and 
pecked  at  his  head  and  eyes  with  their  hard,  horny 
beaks,  till  he  was  forced  to  glide  swiftly  away 
through  the  sharp,  thorny  briers  that  pierced  and 
stung  him  on  either  side. 

Soon  afterwards  the  mother  bird  took  her  place 
upon  the  nest,  and  she  did  not  leave  it  till  the  eggs 
were  hatched. 

Her  mate  kept  her  constantly  supplied  with  bee- 


Fight  between  the  Brown  Thrashers  and  the  Snake. 

ties,  crickets,  and  other  insects,  and  I  am  afraid  that 
he  stole  a  kernel  of  corn  now  and  then  from  a  newly- 
planted  hill.  But  the  large  number  of  insects  that 
he  destroyed  more  than  made  amends  for  the  theft. 

V^TB'R^T^^ 

W  OJf   'CO.U, 

t  "UNIVERSITY 


6o 

One  day  a  man,  who  was  strolling  in  the  fields, 
came  upon  the  nest  of  small  fledgelings,  and  carried 
one  of  them  home  with  him  to  raise  as  a  pet. 

The  parent  birds  pursued  him,  scolding  loudly, 
but  finally  returned  to  the  nest  to  look  after  the 
others  that  were  still  left  to  them. 

The  young  thrasher  was  put  into  a  cage,  and  he 
grew  to  be  very  tame,  and  had  many  cunning  ways. 

When  a  crust  of  bread  was  thrown  into  the  cage, 
he  would  pick  it  up  and  carry  it  to  his  saucer  of 
water  and  soak  it  well  before  eating  it. 

Like  his  parents,  he  was  fond  of  crickets,  beetles, 
wasps,  and  all  insects  having  a  crusty,  hard  cover- 
ing for  their  bodies. 

One  day  a  large  wasp  was  dropped  into  his  food 
basket.  He  caught  it,  at  once,  and  knocked  and 
thrashed  it  about  till  its  wings  were  so  broken  that 
it  could  no  longer  fly. 

Then  he  threw  it  down  on  its  back,  and  eyed  it 
very  closely  to  see  if  it  had  a  sting ;  and,  to  make 
himself  very  sure  on  this  point,  he  took  up  the 
insect's  abdomen  in  his  bill  and  gave  it  a  tight 
squeeze,  so  as  to  make  the  poison  flow  out,  before 
he  ventured  to  swallow  it. 

Then  he  gulped  it  down  with  a  relish,  and  turned 
his  pretty  head  from  side  to  side,  as  if  asking  for 
more. 


6i 


As  he  did  so,  there  was  a  proud  look  in  his 
golden-yellow  eye  that  seemed  to  say,  "  Oh,  I  am 
a  knowing  fellow ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
for  I  belong  to  a  very  gifted  family." 


A  VAIN    LITTLE   MOTH. 

I  KNOW  I  must  be  a  lovely  creature,  else  why  do 
people  call  me  the  "beautiful  wood  nymph"? 

Look  at  my  pure  white  fore 
legs,  marked  here  and  there  with 
brown  spots. 

See  the  dark,  purple-brown 
band  that  is  set  along  the  edge 
of  them.  Is  it  not  pretty? 

This  band  has  a  narrow  head- 
ing of  olive  green,  and  there  is  a 
slender,  wavy  line  of  white  run- 
ning through  it. 

You  will  see  my  hind   wings 
are  of  a  rich  yellow;  and  they,  too,  are  edged  on 
the  hind  border  with  a  deep,  purple-brown  band. 

My  finely-shaped  yellow  body  is  dotted  with 
small,  pearly  scales,  and  striped  with  narrow  bands 
of  black. 

I  wear  tiny  white  mufHers  on  my  fore  legs,  but 


The  Wood  Nymph 
Moth. 


62 

my  other  legs,  all  four  of  them,  are  black,  and  so  is 
my  head. 

My  antennas  are  very  graceful  because  they  are 
so  long  and  threadlike ;  they  are  not  feathered  like 
the  antennae  of  most  moths.  Is  it  any  wonder  that 
I  am  called  beautiful  ? 

I  was  as  handsome  when  I  was  a  larval  baby  as 
I  am  now,  for  I  was  clad  in  a  pretty  blue  dress, 
banded  with  twelve  orange  stripes,  and  each  band 
was  dotted  with  black. 

Are  you  quite  sure  that  you  did  not  see  me  when 
I  had  on  that  dress  ?  You  must  have  seen  me  then, 
although  you  may  not  have  known  my  name. 

I  used  to  visit  your  grapevine  often  and  often  in 
those  days ;  for  I  was  very  fond  of  chewing  the 
young,  juicy  leaves,  and  sometimes  my  friends  and 
I  would  strip  the  vines  bare. 

Then  we  would  go  to  the  climbing  creeper  above 
your  doorway,  and  take  a  good  nip  at  the  leaves 
and  stalks  of  that. 

We  were  as  pretty  a  family  of  larval  infants  as 
one  would  care  to  look  at;  our  colors  were  very 
bright,  and  our  heads,  as  well  as  our  feet,  were  of 
a  deep-orange  hue. 

But  we  did  not  always  keep  together  on  the 
same  leaves,  and  if  you  had  looked  for  us  almost 
any  hot  day  in  August,  you  would  have  found  us 


63 

resting,  singly,  on  the  under  side  of  a  cool,  green 
leaf. 

Now  it  is  the  habit  of  some  of  our  family,  after 
they  have  eaten  all  they  need,  to  bore  into  the 
stem  of  a  plant,  or  sometimes  into  a  piece  of  wood, 
and  make  it  their  winter  quarters.  But  I  was  too 
wise  to  do  that,  for  I  wanted  a  still  safer  place  for 
myself. 

So  one  night,  late  in  September,  I  crept  softly 
down  a  slender  vine  and  buried  myself  in  the 
ground.  There  I  was,  a  helpless  pupa,  an  under- 
ground baby,  without  so  much  as  a  cocoon  to 
cover  me.  Was  I  not  very  brave  ? 

But  it  was  the  right  thing  to  do  after  all,  for  I 
slept  there  safely  through  all  the  cold  winter,  and 
it  was  early  in  June  before  I  awoke  from  my  long 
nap.  Then  I  came  up  from  the  dark  earth. 

I  was  very  weak  and  feeble  at  first,  but  it  was 
not  long  before  I  found  myself  sailing  gaily  about 
in  this  handsome  robe  that  I  am  wearing  to-day. 

And  now  I  will  tell  you  a  strange  thing  about 
some  of  my  relations.  There  is  quite  a  large 
family  of  them,  and  they  fed  on  the  leaves  of  a 
fine  creeper  that  ran  over  the  walls  and  windows 
of  a  city  church. 

So  when  they  had  eaten  and  eaten  till  they  were 
satisfied,  they  crept  inside  the  church  and  hid  them- 


64 

selves  under  the  edge  of  a  soft,  woolen  carpet. 
What  a  snug,  cozy  corner  they  had  found,  to  be 
sure! 

Then  with  their  sharp  jaws  they  bit  off  some 
threads  here  and  there,  and  soon  they  had  a  fine, 
warm  place  for  their  winter  quarters. 

But  it  turned  out  that  this  was  not  a  safe  place 
for  them  at  all ;  they  might  better  have  gone  down 
into  the  cold  earth  as  I  did. 

For  in  a  very  short  time,  the  poor,  helpless  things 
were  discovered,  and  I  have  heard  that  not  one  of 
them  was  left  to  tell  the  tale. 


THE    PATCHED   COAT. 

"  WHAT  an  odd-looking  coat  you  have  on  !  "  said 
a  buzzing  June  beetle  to  a  larval  infant  of  the 
common  clothes  moth. 

"  Yes,  it  is  made  up  of  a  good  many  colors," 
replied  the  other ;  "  but  you  will  not  wonder  at  that 
when  I  tell  you  that  I  was  born  in  a  rag  bag." 

"  Born  in  a  rag  bag  ? "  said  the  beetle,  and  he 
went  flying  and  buzzing  about  the  room  for  nearly 
five  minutes  before  he  spoke  again. 

Then  he  came  back,  and  lit  on  the  soft,  woolen 
rug  where  the  plump  larval  infant  was  at  work. 


"  What  in  the  world  are  you  doing  now  ?  "  he 
inquired. 

"  I  am  just  setting  a  small  gore  into  one  side  of 
this  open  case  in  which  I  live ;  for  if  you  look,  you 
can  easily  see  for  yourself  that  it  is  a  case,  and  not 
a  coat. 

"  The  truth  is,  I 
eat  so  much,  and 
grow  so  fast,  that 
my  narrow  quarters 
will  not  hold  me; 
so,  with  my  sharp 
jaws  I  make  a  slit 
here,  and  another 
there,  and  weave 
in  a  small  patch 
wherever  it  may  be 
needed." 

"  But  pray,  how 
did  you  happen  to 
be  born  in  a  rag 
bag  ? "  asked  the 
beetle. 

"  Because  my  mother  chanced  to  lay  her  eggs 
there ;  she  found  a  bag  full  of  soft,  warm,  woolen 
scraps,  and  she  knew  it  would  be  a  good  place  for 
her  babies. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  5 


Larva  and  Pupae  of  Clothes  Moth. 


66 


"  And  it  was  a  good  place,  for  as  soon  as  we  came 
out  of  the  shell,  we  found  our  food  ready  for  us. 

"  So  we  gnawed  and  gnawed  everything  within 
our  reach,  and  covered  our  bodies  with  the  bits 
that  were  left. 

"  Some  of  these  scraps  were  red,  some  were 
white,  and  others  were  blue ;  that  is  why  my  coat, 
as  you  call  it,  has  so  many  colors  in  it. 

"  But  by  and  by,  I  shall  get  my  growth ;  then  I 
shall  close  one  end  of  my  case,  and  lie  still,  with 
my  head  toward  the  open  end,  through  all  the  long 
winter. 

"  And  when  the  spring  comes,  I  shall  change  to 
a  pupa ;  then  I  shall  be  a  real  baby  moth,  and  in 

about  three  weeks 
from  that  time  I  shall 
leave  my  close,  nar- 
row quarters,  and  be 
a  baby  no  longer." 

"  But  how  will  you 
get  out  of  that  hollow 
case  ?  "  inquired  the 
other. 

"  Oh,  I  have  some  small,  sharp  spines  on  my 
body,  and  I  can  use  them  in  creeping  towards  the 
mouth  of  the  case ;  then  I  will  crawl  clear  out  of 
it  and  leave  it  forever. 


The  Clothes  Moth. 


6; 

"  It  will  be  of  no  further  use  to  me,  for  when  I 
come  forth  I  shall  flit  about  on  four  tiny,  buff- 
colored  wings.  I  shall  look  very  pretty  then,  for 
on  my  forehead  there  will  be  a  thick,  silken  tuft  of 
orange  yellow. 

"  At  nightfall  I  will  dart  about,  here  and  there, 
into  dark  closets  where  I  can  find  some  thick, 
winter  dresses  hanging  up,  or  some  soft,  woolen 
blankets  packed  away ;  and  maybe  I  shall  get  a 
chance  to  creep  in  among  some  nice  -warm  furs  or 
feathers ;  and  when  I  find  as  good  a  place  for  my 
eggs  as  my  mother  found  for  hers,  I  shall  lay 
hundreds  of  them." 

With  that,  she  bit  off  some  bright,  fuzzy  threads 
of  the  woolen  rug,  and  went  on  with  her  mending. 

And  the  June  beetle  flew  round  and  round,  and 
made  a  loud  whizzing  noise,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  I  do  wonder !  " 


A   CRUSTY    FELLOW. 

I  KNOW  where  a  clear  crystal  stream  flows  through 
a  deep  gorge  in  the  mountains.  Sometimes  it 
passes  over  high  rocks,  and  then  dashes  down  like 
white  sea  foam  to  its  stony  bed  below. 

At  other  places,  where  the  rocks  are  not  so  high, 
it  falls  in  thin  sheets,  or  in  shining,  silvery  threads. 


68 

It  is  a  pretty  stream,  and  I  often  wander  along 
its  banks;  for  I  am  acquainted  with  some  queer 
little  people  that  dwell  there,  and  they  live  right 
in  the  water,  too. 

There  is  one  strange  fellow,  in  particular,  that  I 
want  to  tell  you  about.  But  he  hides  himself  in 


The  Crayfish. 

deep  holes  and  under  stones  during  the  day;  so 
one  must  understand  this  sly  trick  of  his  in  order 
to  find  him  at  home. 

Let  me  tell  you  how  he  looks.  His  body  is  long, 
and  somewhat  flattened,  and  he  is  clad  in  a  stiff, 
horny  coat  that  is  very  hard  and  strong. 


69 

But  his  coat  never  becomes  very  ragged ;  for  he 
grows  so  fast  that  he  has  to  put  on  a  new  one  every 
year. 

And  very  often  he  has  a  hard  time  in  pulling  the 
old  coat  off ;  for  the  new,  thin  garment  is  already 
there,  fitted  closely  to  his  body.  Its  color  is  of  a 
light,  yellowish  brown,  at  first,  but  after  a  time  it 
grows  darker. 

And  now  I  hope  you  will  believe  me,  when  I  tell 
you  that  this  fellow  has  no  less  than  five  pairs  of 
walking  legs  and  six  pairs  of  swimming  legs. 

And,  what  is  more,  should  he  chance  to  lose  one 
of  his  legs,  he  would  have  another  in  its  place,  in 
the  course  of  a  year. 

But  he  needs  them  all,  every  one  of  them,  as  I 
can  plainly  prove  to  you. 

His  swimming  legs  are  generally  called  swim- 
ming feet,  and  sometimes  they  are  called  "swim- 
merets."  The  word  "  swimmeret"  means  "a  little 


swimmer." 


The  swimming  feet,  when  not  in  use,  are  almost 
entirely  hidden  under  his  large  abdomen,  which  is 
made  up  of  many  plates  that  end  in  a  wide  fin  at 
the  tail. 

His  mate  has  small,  leaflike  plates  at  the  end  of 
her  swimming  feet,  and  these  are  edged  with  a  fine, 
hairy  fringe. 


She  lays  a  large  number  of  eggs  which  she  car- 
ries about  attached  to  this  fringe. 

It  seems  a  little  odd  that  this  creature  should 
have  ten  walking  legs  besides  his  ten  swimmerets ; 
but  he  is  not  built  like  a  fish,  and  he  would  soon 
become  tired  of  swimming  about  all  the  time. 

His  first  two  legs  are  the  largest,  and  each  one 
of  them  ends  in  a  long  claw  that  is  divided  like  a 
pair  of  nippers. 

And  what  a  tight  pinch  he  can  give  with  those 
nippers !  The  tiny  fishes  in  the  stream  know  all 
about  it ;  and  they  dart  away  in  terror,  the  moment 
they  get  a  glimpse  of  him. 

But  this  is  not  all,  for  he  has  five  pairs  of  jaw 
feet  besides;  so  he  is  well  armed  to  seize  upon  the 
weaker  animals  in  the  water,  and  he  seldom  goes 
without  a  good  dinner. 

He  likes  to  make  a  meal  of  small  fishes,  water 
snails,  larval  babies,  and  the  like. 

He  also  has  two  pairs  of  antennae,  and  the  out- 
side pair  is  very  long ;  he  can  move  them  up  and 
down,  and  turn  or  curve  them  at  his  will.  This  long 
pair  he  uses  to  feel  with ;  and  the  small  antennas 
are  used  to  hear  with. 

But  his  compound  eyes  are  the  queerest  of  all ; 
for  they  are  set  on  two  pegs,  and  he  can  push  them 
out  or  pull  them  in,  as  he  pleases. 


Now  this  curious  fellow  is  called  the  crayfish,  or 
crawfish,  though  he  is  really  a  crab  fish;  for  he  is 
own  cousin  to  the  common  crabs  that  are  found 
along  the  seashore. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  soft-shelled  crab? 

When  the  salt-water  crabs  first  shed  their  coats 
they  are  called  "  soft-shelled  crabs  "  and  are  gathered 
in  large  numbers  for  food. 

But  they  do  not  all  shed  their  coats  every  year, 
as  has  been  proved ;  for  a  full-grown  crab  of  this 
sort  was  once  found  covered  with  oyster  shells  of 
five  years'  growth.  So  it  is  plain  that  he  must  have 
worn  the  same  coat  for  five  years,  at  least. 

The  salt-water  crab  of  this  kind  has  one  of  the 
hands  much  larger  and  stronger  than  the  other. 
He  uses  either  or  both  of  them  for  feeding  himself, 
but  with  the  larger  one  he  digs  in  the  sand. 

Now  within  the  body  of  a  crab  there  are  found, 
at  certain  times  of  the  year,  two  hard  balls,  that 
are  of  the  nature  of  lime;  they  are  often  called 
"crab's  stones,"  and  sometimes,  "crab's  eyes." 

But  in  some  strange  manner  the  substance  of 
these  balls  is  changed,  so  as  to  form  the  hard,  out- 
side covering  of  the  animal's  body. 

And  it  is  just  in  this  way  that  the  small  crusty 
fellow  in  the  mountain  streams  gets  a  new  coat  for 
himself  every  year  of  his  life. 


WAS    IT    A    SHADOW? 

ONE  sunny  afternoon  in  summer 
time,  a  water  boatman  and  a  skater1 
chanced  to  meet  on  the  surface  of  a  small 
pond.     Now  both  of  these  insects  belong 
to  the  water  bug  family,  and  that  is  why 

J        . .  }    The  Water 

they  happened  to  be  traveling  by  water,    Boatman. 
instead  of  going  about  by  land. 

"  Halloa,  friend  Skipjack  !  "  shouted  the  boatman, 
"  would  you  like  to  take  a  trip  with  me  to  the  bot- 
tom of  this  pond  ?  " 

"  Thank  you,  I  am  not  a  swimmer,"  replied  the 
other,  "so  I  do  not  care  to  go  tcx  the  bottom,  so 
long  as  I  can  stay  on  top." 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  answered  the  boatman ;  "  my  long,  hind 
legs  were  made  for  j  swimming,  and  your  sprawl- 

ers,  for  skating ;  so  it 
is  just  as  well  for 
each  one  to  stick  to 
his  trade." 

He      had      hardly 
spoken  the  last  word 
when  he  made  a  dive 
forthebot-/'  torn  and  was  out  of  sight  in  an  instant. 

1  One  of  the  Hy-drom'e-tra,  —  a  water  bug. 


73 

As  soon  as  he  was  gone,  the  skater  began  to 
move  backward  and  forward  with  great  speed ;  and 
as  he  darted  about  in  the  bright  sunshine,  he  looked 
like  a  long  shadow  made  up  of  slender  legs ! 

The  under  part  of  his  body  was  covered  with  a 
soft,  plush  coating,  so  that  the  water  could  not 
touch  him  at  all ;  and  he  could  skip  about  every- 
where for  hours  at  a  time,  without  so  much  as 
wetting  his  feet. 

There  were  plenty  of  tiny  insects  all  about  him 
that  he  could  seize  and  devour  at  his  leisure ;  so 
what  good  reason  had  he  for  running  the  risk  of 
going  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  deep? 

It  was  not  very  long  before  a  whole  swarm  of 
whirligigs  came  dashing  by;  these  insects  belong 
to  the  water  beetle  family. 

Their  bodies  are  of  an  oval  form, 
and  of  a  bluish  black  color;  and  they 
are  well  named  "whirligigs";  for  they  are 
hardly  ever  quiet  and  still  for  a  moment 

.  The  Whirligig. 

m  their  lives. 

So  they  went  gliding  and  circling  about  over 
the  surface  of  the  pond,  and  finally  each  one  of 
them  gathered  a  bubble  of  air  in  the  tip  of  his 
abdomen,  and  plunged  to  the  bottom. 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  skater,  "  so  I  am  left  alone 
again,  and  I  am  glad  of  it." 


74 

And  he  had  very  good  cause  for  being  glad, 
too ;  for  if  he  had  touched  those  creatures  with  so 
much  as  a  single  toe  of  his  foot,  they  would  have 
thrown  out  all  about  them  a  very  disagreeable 
milky  fluid. 


The  Water  Beetle  and  Larva,  and  the  "Water  Tiger." 

Pretty  soon  there  was  a  slight  ripple  on  the 

water,  and  in  a  moment  more,  up  came  a  large 
diving  beetle  to  the  surface. 

His  body  was   also  oval   in  shape,   and  so  flat, 


75 

above  and  below,  that  he  looked  like  a  little  boat 
as  he  sped  along  over  the  waves. 

The  skater  watched  him  a  few  moments,  and 
then  said,  "  Pray,  Mr.  Diver,  have  you  seen  any- 
thing of  my  friend,  the  water  boatman,  in  your 
travels  ?  " 

"Yes,"  replied  the  other.  "I  saw  some  young 
water  tigers  running  about  after  him,  only  a  short 
time  before  I  came  to  the  top." 

"Water  tigers?"  said  the  other.  "What  are 
they  ? " 

"  They  are  very  hungry  larval  infants,  with 
strong,  sharp  jaws,  and  they  live  at  the  bottom  of 
the  pond,  where  they  can  find  plenty  to  eat.  And 
a  fine  time  they  have  of  it,  too.  I  was  once  a  baby 
tiger  myself,  so  I  ought  to  know  all  about  that  kind 
of  life. 

"  Many  and  many  a  time  have  I  snipped  off 
the  tails  of  the  little  tadpoles,  and  of  the  young 
fishes ;  and  I  would  not  mind  even  now  to  get 
hold  of—" 

The  skater  gave  a  sudden  jerk  backwards,  and 
when  the  diver  looked  around,  he  was  nowhere  to 
be  seen. 

"Well,  that  seems  a  little  strange,"  said  he. 
"  Can  it  be  possible  that  all  this  time  I  was  talking 
with  a  shadow  ?  " 


ALMOST  A  BIRD. 

Do  you  see  that  large,  green  worm  creeping 
upon  the  tomato  vines  ?  Its  thick,  stout  body 
is  fully  three  inches  in  length. 

It  is  an  ugly  thing 
to  look  at,  but  it  will 
not  hurt  you ;  that 
sharp  horn  upon  its 
tail  can  not  harm 
you  in  the  least. 

See  those  whitish, 
slanting  stripes  along 
the  sides  of  its  body. 
They  make  quite  a 
pretty  trimming  for 

V  its    green    coat,    do 

they  not? 

The  Tomato  Worm.  J 

Take  it  home  with 

you,  and  put  it  into  a  panful  of  earth.  Cover  it  over 
with  tomato  leaves  or  the  leaves  of  the  potato;  it  is 
quite  as  fond  of  one  kind  as  of  the  other. 

But  you  must  look  after  it  once  in  a  while ;  for 
as  soon  as  it  has  eaten  enough  of  the  leaves  it  will 
bury  itself  at  the  bottom  of  the  pan. 

There  it  will  build  an  earthen  cocoon  and  be- 


77 


come    a   pupa;    and    its   pupa   case   will    be   of    a 
reddish-brown  color. 

It  will  have  a  long,  slender  tongue  case,  bent 
down  from  the  body  so  as  to  touch  the  breast  and 
shaped  somewhat  like  the  handle  of  a  pitcher. 

Think  of  a  little  creature  having 
so  long  a  tongue  that  it  has  to  be  in-- 
closed in  a  separate  case,  even  in  its 
babyhood ! 

When  the  long  winter  is  over,  it  will 
waken  from  its  sleep.  Then  a  poor, 
weak  moth,  with  feeble,  crumpled 
wings,  will  make  its  way  up  from  the 
soil  in  the  pan. 

Push  a  stick  down  into  the  soil,  so 
as  to  lend  it  a  helping  hand.  It  is  the 
most  that  you  can  do  for  it,  and  that 
is  quite  enough.  It  will  soon  creep  Pupa  Case  of  the 

.    .  IT-          Tomato  Worm. 

to  the  top  of  the  stick,  and  when  its 

wings   become    dry   and   strong,   it   will    need    no 

farther  aid  from  you. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  humming  bird  ?  Well, 
your  little  moth  will  look  very  much  like  one.  In 
fact,  it  is  often  called  a  "  humming-bird  moth." 

This  insect  has  a  stout  body ;  and  on  each  side 
of  the  body  are  five  round,  orange-colored  spots  en- 
circled with  black. 


Its  wings  are  narrow  and  pointed,  of  a  gray 
color,  and  marked  with  dark  lines;  but  the  fore 
wings  are  longer  and  broader  than  the  hind  ones. 


The  Humming-Bird  Moth. 

Its  tongue  is  a  good  deal  longer  than  its  body; 
and  when  not  in  use,  it  is  coiled  up  like  the  spring 
of  a  watch.  No  wonder  that  it  needed  a  separate 
case  for  itself ! 


79 

This  tongue  is  for  sucking  up  the  sweets  of 
flowers ;  and  as  the  insect  flits  around  among  the 
pretty  blossoms,  it  makes  a  low,  humming  noise. 

It  chooses  the  early  morning  hour,  or  the  even- 
ing twilight  to  go  in  search  of  its  food;  and  then, 
if  you  watch  it  very  closely,  you  may  see  its  long- 
tongue,  as  it  darts  it  quickly  into  the  sweet  blos- 
soms of  the  honeysuckle,  the  morning-glory,  and 
other  flowers  having  deep,  tubelike  throats. 

"Almost  a  bird,"  you  will  say  to  yourself,  as  you 
watch  its  movements;  and  you  will  wonder  more 
and  more  that  so  beautiful  a  creature  could  ever 
have  lain  hidden  away  under  the  ugly  larval  skin 
of  a  "green  tomato  worm." 


"IF." 

TABBY,  the  house  cat,  lay  on  a  soft  rug  by  the 
open  door,  looking  wistfully  toward  the  top  of  a 
small  cherry  tree  that  stood  close  at  hand. 

"  There  is  a  robin's  nest  in  that  tree,"  said  she 
to  herself,  "  and  there  are  some  young  birds  in  it. 
What  a  tender  morsel  one  of  them  would  make 
for  my  breakfast,  if  —  " 

Just  then  the  housemaid  chanced  to  spy  the 
keen  eyes  of  the  cat  directed  toward  the  tree,  and 


8o 


The  Robin's  Nest. 


she  gave  her  a  sound  box  on  the  ear  that  sent  hei 
flying  into  the  back  yard. 

But  Tabby  was  not  to  be  cheated  out  of  a  good 
meal  by  such  treatment  as  this ; 
and  she  stole  softly  back  toward 
the  foot  of  the  tree  and  crouched 
low  down  in  the  grass,  so  that  she 
was  almost  hiddeafrom  sight. 

"I  will  wait,"  she  said,  "till  one 
of  the  old  birds  flies  down  from 
its  perch,  then  I  will  pounce  upon 
it,  and  begin  my  breakfast  on  that, 
and  if  — " 

All  at  once  a  large,  heavy  stone  came  whizzing 
through  the  air  and  barely  missed  hitting  her  on 
the  head. 

With  a  loud  "  m-e-ow "  she  bounded  away,  and 

hid  herself 
in  one  cor- 
ner of  the 
fence. 

Now  this 
nest  on  the 
bough  was 
Tabby-  well     built 

of  mosses,  straws,   and    dried    stems,  plastered    to- 
gether with   mud,  and   was   lined   with   soft  grass. 


8i 

And  when  it  was  all  complete  the  mother  bird  laid 
within  it  four  small  eggs   of  a  greenish-blue  tint. 

„  By  and  by,  the  eggs  hatched  out,  and  then  there 
was  a  nest  full  of  little  children,  and  oh,  such  appe- 
tites as  they  had  ! 

Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robin  were  early  risers ;  for 
they  knew  that  the  fat  cutworm  and  his  family  were 
in  the  habit  of  coming  up  out  of  the  ground  during 
the  night,  in  order  to  feed  on  the  tender  stalks  of 
the  cabbage,  the  beet,  and  other  garden  plants. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robin. 

So  away  they  would  sail  on  soft  wings,  the  father 
bird  saluting  the  sky,  as  he  skimmed  the  air,  with 
a  song  of  the  sweetest  melody. 

The  heads  and  wings,  as  well  as  the  tail  feathers 
of  these  birds  were  of  a  dark  brown,  but  their  plump, 
glossy  breasts  were  of  a  pale,  yellowish  red. 

Everybody  that  saw  them  stopped  to  admire  them, 
and  to  listen  to  the  sweet  notes  of  their  morning  hymn. 

Pretty  soon  they  would  come  flying  back  to  their 
leafy  home,  bearing  in  their  yellow  bills  some  choice 
tidbit  for  the  little  ones  in  the  nest. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  6 


82 

Beetles,  grubs,  moths,  caterpillars,  and  cutworms, 
by  the  hundred,  were  carried  to  that  young  family 
every  day ;  and  yet  four  tiny  hungry  bills  were 
always  open,  calling  for  more. 

So  they  grew  and  grew,  and  pretty  soon  the  little 
nest  was  too  small  to  hold  all  of  them  together; 
and  one  day,  as \orie  of  them  was  crowded  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  nest,\he  tumbled  out  and  fell  to 
the  ground. 

Alas,  alas !  Tabby's  watchful  eyes  beheld  the 
mishap.  "  Now  is  my  chance,"  she  said,  and  in  a 
moment  she  was  on  the  spot. 

As  she  moved  her  tail  from  side  to  side,  she 
looked  very  fierce  indeed,  almost  as  fierce  as  her 
wild  cousins,  the  tigers  and  the  lions,  that  roam  the 
forests  in  search  of  their  prey. 

Suddenly  she  made  a  spring  to  seize  the  helpless 
baby  bird  with  her  sharp  claws. 

This  was  more  than  the  terror-stricken  parents 
could  endure,  and  sweeping  down  from  the  bough, 
they  hovered  above  her  form  and  dealt  her  several 
hard  blows  with  their  wings. 

Then  they  pecked  her  body  with  their  sharp 
bills,  and  pulled  tufts  of  hair  out  of  her  head. 

It  was  hard,  very  hard,  for  her  to  yield  up  her 
prize ;  but  the  birds  fought  her  so  furiously  that 
she  was  glad  to  escape ;  and  with  a  cry  of  rage 


83 

and  pain  she  leaped  away,  leaving  many  tufts  of 
her  soft  fur  behind  her. 

The  housemaid,  hearing  the  clamor  made  by 
the  old  birds,  came  to  the  door,  and  saw  the 
helpless  infant  lying  on  the  ground.  She  took  it 
up  tenderly  and  replaced  it  in  the  nest,  where  it 
soon  cuddled  down  as  happy  and  contented  as  if 
nothing  had  happened  to  it. 

When  the  parent  birds  found  that  their  darling 
was  unharmed,  they  flitted  about  from  bough  to 
bough,  and  chirped  their  gratitude  and  delight ; 
but  it  was  a  long  time  before  they  would  leave 
their  little  home  unguarded. 

When  one  of  them  went  away  in  search  of  food, 
the  other  would  remain  on  the  bough  to  watch 
their  treasures. 

It  was  not  many  days,  however,  before  the  young 
birds  began  to  try  their  wings;  and  one  morning 
the  whole  family  flew  away  from  their  leafy  home, 
and  did  not  come  back. 

As  for  the  cat,  she  had  learned  a  useful  lesson ; 
for  when  the  parent  birds  returned  the  next 
spring,  and  took  possession  of  their  old  quarters, 
Tabby  never  so  much  as  cast  a  glance  toward  the 
tree. 

"  I  will  not  go  near  them,5'  she  m-e-owed  to 
herself ;  "  for  if  I  do  "  —  here  she  stopped,  licked 


84 

her  paws,  and   rubbed  very  tenderly  a  bare  place 
on  the  side  of  her  head. 

Ah,  Tabby,  it  will  take  you  many  a  day  to 
comb  and  smooth  your  fur,  before  that  bald  spot 
will  be  covered ;  and  even  then,  you  will  never 
look  as  sleek  and  fine  as  you  did  before  the  battle! 


WITH    AUGER   AND    SAW. 

PART    I. 

"  WHY  do  you  speed  along  in  such  haste  ? "  said 
a  stout-bodied  sawfly  to  her  cousin,  the  horntail 
fly,  as  they  both  chanced  to  be  going  in  the  same 

direction. 

"  Pray  do  not  ask  me  to 
travel  at  your  sluggish  pace," 
replied  the  other.  "  I  am 
on  my  way  to  that  tall  elm 
yonder;  for  I  want  to  bore 
into  its  trunk,  and  hide  my 

The  Horntail  Fly.  .  . 

eggs  there,  and  this  bright 
July  morning  is  just  the  time  for  it." 

"  I  am  going  to  that  very  tree  myself,"  said  the 
sawfly ;  "  but  I  shall  make  a  slit  in  one  of  the  leaves 
for  my  eggs,  which  I  am  sure  will  be  much  easier 
to  do  than  to  bore  into  the  hard  trunk  of  a  tree." 


"That  is  as  you  like,"  answered  the  other.     "I 
work  with  an  auger,  and  you  with  a  saw ;    and  it  ' 
is  a  good  thing  that  each  of   us  prefers   his  own 
tools."     And  with  this  short  answer  she  sped  on, 
out  of  sight. 

And  now  let  us 
watch  her,  as  she 
busies  herself  on  the 
trunk  of  the  tree  yon- 
der. Her  head  is 
large,  her  body  is 
round  and  long,  and 
she  has  long,  narrow 
wings. 

At  the   end   of  her 
body  she  has. a  sharp 
needle  or  auger,  with 
which    she    can  bore   through   both   the  bark  and 
the  wood  of  a  tree. 

It  does  not  take  her  very  long  to  do  her  work 
either,  for  she  has  already  made  several  holes,  and 
into  each  hole  she  has  pushed  a  small  egg. 

Now,  Mrs.  Horntail's  infants  will  be  ugly,  white 
grubs,  with  small,  round,  horny  heads,  and  pointed, 
horny  tails.  They  will  each  have  six  legs,  and  such 
sharp  jaws  that  they  can  gnaw  their  way  anywhere 
through  the  tree. 


Larva  of  the  Horntail  Fly. 


86 


They  will  feed  on  its  sweet  sapwood ;  and  when 
they  have  eaten  so  much  that  they  can  eat  no 
more,  they  will  make  for  themselves,  each,  a  silken 
cocoon,  ancKlnto  that  they  will  weave  some  of 
the  small  chips  that  they  have  chewed.  Then  they 
will  go  to  sleep. 

And  when  at  last  they  have  finished  their  nap, 
they  will  cast  off  their  pupa  skins,  break  open  their 
cocoons,  and  crawl  up  to  the  very  end  of  their 

burrows. 

Then  they  will 
soon  gnaw  away 
the  bark,  and 
come  out  with 
four  smoky-brown 
wings. 

And  what  is 
strangest  of  all, 
insects  of  this 
kind  have  been 
known  to  remain  so  long  in  the  pupa  state  that 
after  a  tree  was  cut  down  and  the  wood  was  planed 
and  polished,  and  made  into  furniture,  they  gnawed 
their  way  out  of  it. 

But  the  horntail  fly  is  not  the  only  insect  that 
works  with  an  auger ;  and  although  her  sharp  borer 
is  a  full  inch  in  length,  she  has  a  sly  enemy  that 


The  Ichneumon  Fly. 


carries  one  from  three  to  four  inches  long.1  And 
what  do  you  suppose  she  does  with  this  long  tool  ? 
She  hunts  around  for  a  time  till  at  last  she  finds 
the  tree  in  which  Mrs.  Horntail's  larval  children 
are  hidden.  Then  she  thrusts  in  her  auger,  here 
and  there,  and  slyly  pushes  an  egg  into  each 
hole. 

And  when  her  babies  hatch  out,  they  creep  about 
through  the  body  of  the  tree  till  they  find  a  fat 
young  horntail. 

Then  they  have  no  farther  to  look  for  their 
dinner.  It  is  all  ready  for  them ;  and  you  may 
be  sure  that  they  do  not  wait  to  be  invited,  but 
seize  upon  it  at  once. 

They  soon  make  themselves  fast  to  the  skin  of 
the  helpless  infant  and  feast  on  him  to  their  hearts' 
content ;  and  no  matter  how  much  he  may  wriggle 
and  squirm,  they  do  not  loosen  their  hold  till  the 
meal  is  finished. 

Ah,  Mrs.  Horntail,  you  would  not  have  sailed  so 
proudly  away,  could  you  have  seen  what  the  end 
might  be ! 

Possibly  your  family  may  live  to  flit  about  in  the 
warm  sunshine  of  a  pleasant  July  day ;  but  your 
enemy  has  marked  the  tree,  and  she  is  on  your 
track. 

1  The  ich-neu'mon  fly. 


88 


WITH   AUGER   AND    SAW. 

PART    II. 

AH,  here  comes  the  other  wise  little  carpenter, 
bringing  two  sharp  saws  along  with  her.  She  has 
taken  her  own  time ;  but  she  is  here  at  last.  And 

what  a  pretty  little  busy- 
body she  is ! 

Look  at  her  closely, 
and  you  will  see  that 
both  her  head  and  her 

The  Sawfly.  .  .  , 

thorax  are  ot  a  glossy 

black ;  but  the  other  parts  of  her  body  are  of  a 
steel  blue,  spotted  with  yellow. 

Her  four  thin  wings  are  of  a  smoky  brown ;  her 
legs  are  stout,  and  of  a  blue-black  color,  and  her 
feet  are  of  a  pale  yellow. 

Does  she  not  resemble  a  hornet  ?  Well,  she 
belongs  to  the  same  great  family 1  as  the  hornet ; 
so  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  can  trace  a  family 
likeness. 

But  the  hornet  has,  at  the  end  of  her  body,  a 
very  sharp  sting;  while  the  sawfly  carries  a  pair 
of  keen-edged  saws  instead. 

See,  she  is  using  them   now  to  make  a  slit  in 

1  Hy-men-op'te-ra,  membrane  wing,  or  thin  wing. 


89 


that  leaf;    and  when   it  is  done,  she  wnTxirop  an 
egg  into  it. 

And  because  she  has  made  a  hole  in  the  leaf, 
the  sap  will  not  flow  smoothly  along  as  it  did 
before,  but  it  will  gather  there.  And  after  a  time 
there  will  be  a  hard  lump,  like  a  knob,  in  that 
place ;  and  wherever  she  places  an  egg,  there  will 
be  just  such  a  swelling  or  knob. 

Inside  of  each  lump  there  will  be  a  squirming, 
larval  baby,  clad  in  pale,  greenish  yellow,  with  a 
black  stripe  running  all  along  its  back. 

And  what  active  little  creatures  they  will  be ! 
Each  one  of  them  will  have  no  less  than  twenty- 
two  strong  legs,  so  it 
will  not  take  them  long 
to  strip  the  leaves  from 
that  tree. 

And  what  is  more, 
should  you  chance  to 
touch  one  of  them  ever  so  lightly,  he  will  spirt 
from  the  sides  of  his  body  a  jet  of  fluid  right  into 
your  face. 

Now  when  these  hungry  creatures  have  feasted 
for  a  long  time,  they  will  crawl  down  from  the 
tree  and  bury  themselves  under  the  dry,  fallen 
leaves. 

And  there,  in  a  thick  brown  cocoon,  each  small 


Sawfly  Larvae. 


90 

infant  will  stay,  snug  and  safe  till  spring.  Then 
it  will  break  open  its  pupa  case  and  push  hard 
against  one  end  of  its  cocoon,  till  it  opens  like  a 
little  lid,  and^out  it  will  come,  a  four-winged  saw- 
fly,  having  a  body  nearly  an  inch  in  length. 

The  body  of  the  male  is  longer  and  narrower 
than  that  of  the  female ;  and  there  is  no  saw  at  the 
end  of  it.  The  males  of  bees,  hornets,  ants,  horn- 
tails,  and  all  other  insects  of  this  kind  have  neither 
sting  nor  borer  at  the  end  of  the  body. 

But  both  males  and  females  have  two  pairs  of 
jaws,  —  one  for  biting  and  cutting  the  leaves  and 
twigs  of  plants,  and  the  other  for  sucking  the 
sweet  juices. 

There  are  many  curious  insects  that  belong  to 
this  large  family,  and  among  them  is  one  that  is 
named  the  gallfly.  It  is  a  very  small  insect,  having 
a  body  not  over  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  little  brown  ball  fastened 
to  a  twig,  or  to  the  leaf  of  a  plant  ?  I  hope  you 
did  not  try  to  bite  it,  thinking  it  was  a  nut.  Let 
me  tell  you  how  these  little  balls  happen  to  be 
found  in  such  places. 

A  mother  gallfly  lays  her  eggs  in  a  leaf  or  stem, 
something  after  the  manner  of  the  sawfly,  and  these 
nutgalls  are  the  homes  of  her  larval  infants. 

As  soon  as   these  larvae   are  hatched  from  the 


egg,  they  begin  to  feed  on  the  soft  pulp  within 
the  ball;  and  as  they  increase  in  size  they  cast 
their  skins  till  they  reach  the  pupa  state. 

Finally  they  escape  from  this  pupa  case  and 
gnaw  a  little  hole  through  the  shell  of  the  nut ; 
then  they  come  forth  with  wings  into  the  great 
world  outside. 

And  now  that  you 
know  how  these  lit- 
tle brown  nuts  are 
formed,  I  am  quite 
sure  that  you  will 
examine  them  very 
carefully  should  you 
chance  to  come  up- 
on them  in  your 
walks. 

If   you   will   look 
at    some    of    them 
closely,  you  will  find  the  open  door  through  which 
the  winged  insect  came. 

So  you  see,  these  little  mothers  that  we  find  fly- 
ing about  everywhere  are  really  very  wise,  and  they 
are  worth  our  careful  study. 

The  fields  and  forests  are  alive  with  them,  for 
they  are  ever  on  the  wing,  and  we  have  only  to  keep 
our  eyes  open  in  order  to  learn  all  their  secrets. 


V 

Gallnut  on  Oak  Leaves. 


FOUR   PINK   BABIES. 

THERE  was  a  great  stir  in  the  cottage  of  Dame 
Dutton ;  for  it  was  the  first  day  of  April,  and  the 
good  dame  never  allowed  that  day  to  pass  (unless 
it  chanced  to  fall  on  Sunday)  without  a  general 
upheaving  and  overturning  of  everything  that  was 
movable  under  her  roof. 

"  I  will  begin  at  the  pantry  first,"  said  Mistress 
Dutton ;  "  for  if  my  sense  of  smell  does  not  deceive 
me,  there  is  a  mouse  hidden  away  in  that  cake  cup- 
board." 

So,  with  sleeves  rolled  to  the  elbow,  and  with  her 
longest  bib  apron  tied  snugly  about  her,  she  pro- 
ceeded to  attack  the  cake  cupboard,  without  farther 
delay. 

"  Bless  me ! "  cried  the  dame,  as  the  first  whisk  of 
her  broom  brought  down  a  large,  black  spider,  and 
with  it  the  fine  gossamer  web  that  had  been  woven 
with  so  much  care. 

"  Bless  me !  who  would  have  believed  it,  and  I  so 
particular  about  cobwebs,  too." 

But  after  the  cobwebs  (together  with  all  the  vic- 
tims that  had  been  snared  by  them)  were  lying 
in  loose  tufts  on  the  pantry  floor,  Mrs.  Dutton  felt 
that  she  had  a  still  greater  work  to  do. 


93 


For  now  there  was 
no  possibility  of  a  mis- 
take ;  she  certainly  did 
sniff  the  strong  odor  of 
a  mouse,  and  she  felt 
quite  sure  that  the  lit- 
tle thief  was  not  far  off. 

Nor  was  she  mis- 
taken ;  for  while  she 
stood  there,  prying  and 
peeping  into  this  corner 
and  that,  up  jumped  a 
mouse,  almost  into  her 
very  face,  and  scam- 
pered away  to  an  oppo- 
site corner  of  the  room. 

Mrs.  Button  gave  a  little  scream,  and  for  a 
moment  it  was  hard  to  tell  which  was  the  more 
frightened,  she  or  the  mouse. 

Then  she  gained  courage  to  make  a  search  along 
the  wooden  cleat  of  the  pantry  shelf  and  —  could 
she  believe  her  own  eyes  —  there,  in  a  snug,  cozy 
corner,  were  four,  wee  baby  mice. 

Poor  little  things !  they  were  so  young  that  they 
had,  as  yet,  no  furry  coat  like  their  mother's;  and 
the  color  of  their  naked  bodies  was  almost  as  pink 
as  the  gay  ribbon  on  Dame  Dutton's  Sunday  cap. 


Up  jumped  a  Mouse." 


94 


And  their  eyes,  —  well,  they  had  no  eyes,  so  far 
as  she  could  make  out. 

There  were^wo  mites  of  eyelids  that  looked  like 
little  warts,  but  the  whole  family  seemed  to  be  as 
blind  as  a  nest  of  young  kittens  ;  and  everybody 
knows  that  young  kittens  do  not  get  their  eyes 
fairly  open  till  they  are  nine  days  old,  at  least. 
What  funny-looking  little  creatures  they  were! 

They  were  both 
sightless  and  hair- 
less —  ugh  ! 

But  these  ugly- 
looking  babies 
were  very  precious 
in  the  sight  of  the 
mother  mouse,  as 
you  will  present- 

jy 


The  Four  Wee  Baby  Mice. 

must  not  suppose  that  she  ran  away  like  a  coward 
to  return  to  them  no  more. 

Ah,  no  indeed,  she  could  not  do  that  ;  she  simply 
hid  herself  away  for  a  moment,  as  if  planning  what 
it  was  best  to  do  next.  It  was  most  pitiful  to  see 
her  trembling  there  in  the  corner. 

There  was  a  quiver  in  her  pretty,  silky  ears,  in 
the  short,  stiff  hairs  about  her  pointed  snout,  and 
even  her  long,  smooth  tail  shook  with  terror. 


95 

Oh,  how  her  poor  heart  did  flutter  lest  some 
harm  should  come  to  the  helpless  infants  that  she 
loved  so  well. 

She  had  felt  so  secure  in  that  dark  cake  cup- 
board, and  she  had  worked  so  very  hard  to  get  inside. 

Why,  she  had  gnawed  and  gnawed  for  more  than  a 
week,  before  she  had  been  able  to  make  a  hole  large 
enough  for  her  own  little  body  to  pass  in  and  out. 

Now  that  small  opening  was  her  own  private 
door — the  little  door  of  her  bedroom;  and  it  was 
so  very  small  that  she  had  never  dreamed  that  any 
eye  but  hers  could  find  it. 

She  had  used  her  front  teeth  for  a  chisel,  in  cut- 
ting the  doorway,  and  very  sharp  teeth  they  were 
too,  I  assure  you. 

There  were  four  of  them  in  all  —  two  on  the 
upper,  and  two  on  the  under  jaw ;  and  the  more  she 
used  them,  the  stronger  and  sharper  they  grew. 

Many  and  many  a  night  when  she  had  been 
gnawing  at  the  doorway,  she  had  heard  the  foot- 
steps of  Dame  Dutton  approaching  the  pantry. 

Then  she  had  sped  away  in  terror,  not 'daring  to 
return  to  her  work  till  almost  morning.  Poor  soul ! 
Do  you  not  feel  sorry  for  her  ?  I  do. 

I  think  Dame  Dutton  must  have  felt  a  little 
sorry,  too  ;  for  she  just  stood  stock  still  and  looked 
at  her. 


\ 

After  awhile  the  timid,  trembling  creature  seemed 
to  gain  a  little  courage ;  and  so,  very  cautiously  she 
crept  towards  the  nest, — that  little  home  that  held 
her  treasures. 

Then  she  stopped,  and  fixed  her  bright  little  eyes 
on  the  tall  giant  standing  so  very  near  her. 

But  suddenly  she  made  a  dash  toward  the  nest, 
and  seizing  one  of  the  babies  by  the  nape  of  the 
neck,  just  as  a  cat  catches  up  her  kittens,  she  held 

it  firmly  be- 
tween her  teeth, 
and  scampered 
away  with  it  as 
fast  as  her  legs 
could  carry  her. 

The  Mother  and  her  Baby  Mouse.  J 

Could  you 

have  looked  closely  at  her  soft,  tiny  feet,  you  would 
not  wonder  that  she  sped  away  so  nimbly. 

She  had  four  finger  toes,  and  a  bit  of  a  thumb 
besides,  on  each  of  her  fore  feet ;  while  each  of  her 
hind  feet  had  five  toes ;  and  each  toe  was  armed 
with  a  sharp  nail. 

Ah,  such  feet  as  hers  were  not  made  to  stumble ; 
they  were  almost  as  swift  as  wings ! 

She  was  gone  but  a  moment,  and  then  her 
pointed  snout  appeared  at  the  open  door  again. 

In  a  twinkling  she  sprang  to  the  shelf,  and  rush- 


97 

ing  to  the  nest,  the  second  baby  mouse  was  rescued 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  first. 

A  third  time  she  came  back,  and  growing  a  little 
bolder  each  time,  she  made  directly  for  the  nest, 
and  disappeared,  in  a  flash,  with  the  third  infant. 

"  Now  I  will  test  your  brav- 
ery, Mrs.  Mouse,"  said  Dame 
Button ;  so  she  slipped  a  stiff 
piece  of  cardboard  under  the 
ne"st,  and  held  it  tightly  in 
her  hand. 

The  mother  mouse  returned, 
flitted  a  few  paces  forward, 
saw  that  the  nest  had  been  re- 
moved, and  then  stopped  quite 
still,  but  shaking  and  panting 
with  fright. 

"  Help,  help !  "  peeped  the 
small  pink  baby,  in  plain 

,  -,         i  •  Feet  of  the  Mouse. 

mouse     language ;     and     this 

was  more  than  the  mother  love  could  bear. 

The  poor  frightened  heart  beat  so  loud  and  so 
fast  that  it  shook  her  whole  body. 

Very  slowly  she  crept  along  the  shelf,  and  finally 
she  flattened  herself  out  in  a  sort  of  humble  way, 
as  if  begging  the  huge  giant  to  spare  her  little  one. 

Then  with  one  bold  effort,  she  gathered  herself 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  7 


98 

up,  gave  a  quick  jump,  caught  her  peeping  treasure 
from  the  nest,  and  was  out  of  sight  in  an  instant. 
"  Well,"  said  Mistress  Button,  as  soon  as  she 
had  recovered  from  her  astonishment,  —  "well  I 
never!  And  I  always  so  particular  about  mice, 
too." 


THE   SLUG   FLY  AND   THE   GRASSHOPPER. 

A  MOTHER  slug  fly  that  had  been  darting  about 
in  the  sunshine  all  day,  finally  settled  down  among 
the  green  leaves  of  a  pear  tree. 

Like  the  horntail  fly,  she 
was  armed  with  a  sharp- 
pointed  auger ;  and  with 
this  auger  she  cut  several 
slits  in  the  under  part  of 
the  leaf. 

The  Slug  Fly.  . 

I  hese  slits  were  in  the 

form  of  a  half  circle,  and  in  each  one  of  them  she 
placed  an  egg.  After  that,  she  flew  away  and  gave 
no  further  heed  to  it. 

She  was  a  very  small  insect,  so  small,  indeed, 
that  her  body  was  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  in  length. 

But  she  was  really  quite  pretty ;  for  she  was  of 
a  glossy-black  color,  and  her  four  thin  wings  were 


99 

very  clear,  and  were  veined  with  brown;  while 
across  the  middle  of  the  first  pair  there  was  a 
wide  band  of  a  somewhat  smoky  hue. 

It  was  a  warm  day  in  June;  and  as  she  darted 
about  in  the  sunlight,  her  wings  looked  as  if  they 
had  caught  some  of  the  bright  tints  of  the  rainbow. 

"  What  a  beautiful  creature  you  are ! "  said  a 
large  green  grasshop- 
per. "  I  think  I  must 
get  a  little  nearer  to 
you,  where  I  can  see 
you  better." 

,  The  Grasshopper. 

And   she  gave  such 

a  long  leap  that  she  went  clear  over  the  head  of 
the  slug  fly  and  landed  on  the  other  side  of  her. 

"  Bless  me  !  "  said  the  fly ;  "  what  very  long  legs 
you  have,  my  friend." 

"  Yes,  my  hind  legs  are  very  long ;  they  are  made 
for  leaping  about,  as  you  can  plainly  see." 

"  And  what  very,  very  long  antennae,"  said  the 
other.  "  They  must  be  nearly  twice  as  long  as 
your  body,  I  am  sure." 

At  this  the  grasshopper  turned  her  antennae 
back,  till  they  extended  way  beyond  her  long  hind 
legs. 

"  Wonderful !  "  said  the  slug  fly.  "  What  a  pity 
that  you  have  not  wings  like  me." 


IOO 

"Wings?"  $aid  the  other;  "you  had  better  use 
your  eyes." 

And  with  that  she  displayed  two  long,  straight 
wing  covers,  and  two  thin  hind  wings  that  were 
hidden  under  them. 

"  Who  would  have  thought  it  ? "  said  the  slug 
fly.  "  But  tell  me,  my  friend,  what  were  you 
digging  into  the  ground  for,  just  before  you  came 
here?" 

"  I  was  hiding  my  eggs  there,"  replied  the  other. 
"  You  did  not  see  my  wings,  and  you  may  not 
have  seen  the  sword  at  the  end  of  my  body ;  but 
I  always  carry  one  with  me  wherever  I  go. 

"  It  was  with  this  sharp  sword  that  I  made  a  hole 
in  the  earth,  and  put  my  eggs  into  it.  Then  I 
smeared  them  all  over  with  a  thick  glue ;  for  as 
soon  as  the  glue  hardens,  it  will  form  a  strong 
case  for  them. 

"  And  now  I  have  covered  up  the  hole  in  the 
ground  carefully,  and  have  left  them  there ;  for  I 
know  they  will  be  safe  and  warm  through  all  the 
long  winter." 

"  Now  what  will  your  babies  be  like  ? "  inquired 
the  other. 

"  They  will  be  like  me,  only  their  wings,  at  first, 
will  look  like  little  scales.  But  they  will  feed  on  all 
the  green  things  that  come  in  their  way  till  they 


lot 

have  shed  their  skins  six  times  ;  then  their  wings 
will  be  as  large  as  mine." 

"  What  a  fine  time  they  will  have  eating  those 
skins!"  said  the  slug  fly. 

"  Eating  their  skins  ? "  replied  the  grasshopper. 
"  Whoever  heard  of  such  a  thing !  My  family 
never  eat  their  skins.  Why  should  they  do  such 
a  thing  as  that,  with  plenty  of  green  leaves  all 
about  them?" 

Now  the  grasshopper  belongs  to  the  same  great 
family l  as  the  cricket,  the  locust,  the  katydid,  and 
other  insects  having  straight  wing  covers ;  the 
mother  straight  wing  lays  the  eggs,  and  the  father 
straight  wing  makes  all  the  music. 

And  this  class  of  insects  do  not  have  a  wormlike 
form,  even  when  they  are  first  hatched  from  the  egg. 

"  Well,"  said  the  slug  fly,  "  my  family  do  eat  their 
skins,  and  they  are  very  fond  of  them,  too.  They 
shed  their  coat  five  times  before  they  are  full- 
grown  ;  and  they  always  feast  on  every  one  of 
their  cast-off  skins  excepting  the  last." 

"  What  must  the  children  of  your  kind  be  like  ?  " 
said  the  grasshopper,  and  as  she  spoke,  she  let  fall 
a  dark-brown  fluid  from  her  jaws. 

"  Oh,  they  are  beautiful  creatures,"  replied  the 
other. 

1  Or-thop'te-ra,  —  straight  wing. 


102 


\ 

"  They  are  covered,  at  first,  with  a  soft,  sticky 
slime,  of  a  pretty  olive  shade ;  but  when  they  get 

their  fifth  coat,  it  is 
very    dry    and    of    a 
yellow    tint,    and    as 
Larva  of  the  slug  Fly.  there    is     no     slime 

upon  that,  they  do  not  care  to  eat  it. 

"And  such*' nimble  little  creatures  you  never 
saw ;  for  although  they  are  not  quite  half  an  inch 
in  length,  they  have  no  less  than  twenty  short  legs 
apiece. 

"  So  they  creep  about  upon  the  green  leaves  of 
the  pear  and  of  the  cherry  tree,  and  with  their 
sharp  jaws  they  cut  out  all  the  soft  parts  of  the 
leaf.  But  they  are  so  dainty  that  they  will  touch 
neither  the  veins  nor  the  skin  of  a  leaf,  no  matter 
how  tender  it  may  be." 

"  Dainty  !  "  said   the  grasshopper.      "  A  creature 
that     will     eat 
its  own  skin  — 
ugh  ! " 

The  slug  fly 
paid  no  heed  to 
this  remark,  but 

r^.         Pear  Leaf  with  the  Slug  Fly  Eggs  and  Larvae. 

went  on :  "  The 

larval  babies  of  my  kind  are  called  slugs';  and  they 

are  very  shy  little  creatures,  with  small  brown  heads. 


103 

Should  you  ever  meet  them,  you  will  know  them 
by  this :  They  have  a  way  of  swelling  out  the 
fore  part  of  the  body,  so  as  to  hide  their  modest 
heads  completely. 

"  But  you  will  have  to  look  for  them  pretty  soon ; 
for  my  eggs  will  hatch  out  before  long.  And  after 
the  babies  have  eaten  all  they  need,  they  will  leave 
the  pear  tree  and  creep  down  into  the  ground. 

"  There  each  one  will  make  for  itself  an  earthen 
cocoon ;  and  when  it  awakens  from  its  long  winter's 
sleep,  it  will  come  up  into  the  air  and  sunshine. 

"  Then  it  will  have  four  handsome  wings  like 
mine ;  and  it  will  be  even  more  beautiful  than 
when  it  was  a  slimy  larval  infant." 

"  More  beautiful !  I  should  hope  so,"  said  the 
grasshopper ;  and  she  let  fall  a  whole  mouthful  of 
brown  fluid,  and  gave  a  leap  that  sent  her  clear  out 
of  sight. 

THE   TRUTH    OF    IT. 

"  A  silly  young  cricket,  accustomed  to  sing 
Through  the  long,  sunny  months  of  gay  summer  and  spring, 
Began  to  complain  when  he  found  that  at  home 
His  cupboard  was  empty  and  winter  had  come." 

WE  have  all  heard  the  sorrowful  tale ;  how  the 
poor,  starved  cricket  went  to  a  very  stingy  old  ant, 
and  begged  for  food  and  shelter;  and  how  the 


104 

ant  met  him  with  harsh  words,  and  finally  turned 
him  out  of  doors. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  story,  indeed ;  but  I  am 
afraid  that  it  is  not  true,  for  it  does  not  agree 
with  the  history  of  the  cricket  family. 

The  fact  is  that  most  all  crickets  die  on  the 
approach  of  winter.  There  are  only  a  very  few 
among  them  that  live  till  spring ;  and  these  either 
hide  themselves  under  stones,  or  else  they  creep 
into  some  hole  in  the  ground  that  is  warm  and 
dry. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  them  do  sing  through 
the  long  sunny  months  of  summer,  and  even  until 
quite  late  in  the  fall. 

But  it  is  the  father  cricket  that  makes  the  music; 
and  he  delights  in  it. 

He  rubs  the  inner  edges  of  his  outside  wings 
together  with  great  glee ;  and  he  will  keep  up  his 
shrill  music  for  hours  and  hours  at  a  time. 

It  is  a  way  that  he  has  of  talking  to  his  wife; 
and  she  never  seems  to  grow  weary  of  it.  But 
she  takes  no  part  in  his  tune ;  for  her  wings  are 
not  formed  like  his,  to  make  music. 

Many  "of  these  insects  are  clothed  in  black;  and 
it  does  seem  a  little  strange  that  so  cheerful  a 
chirper  as  the  father  cricket  should  be  clad  in 
mourning  array. 


105 

But  he  had  no  choice  in  the  matter;  so  he  may 
as  well  be  merry  and  make  the  best  of- it. 

The  mother  cricket  has  at  the  end  of  her  small 
body  a  fine-pointed  piercer,  as  sharp  as  a  needle ; 
and  late  in  the  autumn  she  makes  holes  in  the 
ground  and  places  her  eggs  in  them. 

Sometimes  there  are  as  many  as  three  hundred 
eggs  in  one  mass ;  but  she  takes  no  farther  care  of 
them,  for  she  knows  that  she  has  left  them  in  a 
safe  place  to  hatch 
out. 

There  is  another 
kind  of  cricket  that 
is  clad  in  ivory  white, 
with  a  few  yellow 

,  til  The  Cricket. 

tints  about  the  body. 

This  cricket  makes  music,  too,  and  it  is  often  of  a 

very  harsh  and  noisy  kind. 

But  his  wife  does  not  always  dress  in  pure  white; 
for  sometimes  she  wears  white  on  a  part  of  her 
body,  while  the  other  portions  are  tinged  with 
green  or  with  yellow. 

She  pierces  holes  in  the  twigs  and  steins  of 
plants  and  pushes  her  eggs  into  them,  even  to  the 
very  pith.  Then,  like  the  ground  cricket,  her  work 
is  done ;  for  very  soon  after  these  insects  have  laid 
their  eggs,  both  the  males  and  females  die. 


IOO 


It  is  true  that  there  will  be  a  large  family  of 
baby  crickets  in  the  spring ;  but  such  babies  are, 
in  no  way,  helpless.  They  all  know  just  what  to  do. 

They  will  not  be  wormlike  larval  babies,  either; 
they  will  look  just  like  their  parents,  only  that 
the  wings  of  young  crickets  are  at  first  nothing 
but  tiny  scales. 


Young  Crickets  feeding  on  Squash. 

As  soon  as  they  come  out  of  the  shell  they  will 
begin  to  eat.  They  will  feast  on  the  juicy  roots 
of  the  melon,  the  squash,  che  potato,  grass,  and 
other  green  things  that  come  in  their  way. 

As  these  insects  become  larger  and  larger,  they 
cast  off  their  baby  clothes  till  they  get  their  seventh 
suit. 

Then  they  are  full-grown  crickets,  with  a  pair  of 
long,  slender  antennas  and  four  straight  wings.  But 


to; 

the  two  outside  wings  are  not  used  for  flying; 
they  are  used  as  covers  both  for  the  under  wings 
and  for  the  sides  of  the  body. 

There  are  some  kinds  of  crickets  that,  if  they 
chance  to  get  into  a  room  where  they  find  a  woolen 
carpet  or  a  woolen  garment  of  any  kind,  will  soon 
destroy  it. 

They  have  even  been  known  to  gnaw  holes  in 
boots  and  in  shoes  that  were  made  of  thick,  heavy 
leather. 

A  gentleman  who  was  very  fond  of  the  cricket's 
clear,  sharp  notes,  opened  his  window,  one  evening, 
so  that  he  might  go  to  sleep  with  the  sound  of  their 
music  in  his  ears. 

But  when  he  awoke  in  the  morning,  he  found 
that  quite  a  number  of  them  had  entered  his  room 
during  the  night,  and  had  eaten  several  large  holes 
in  a  new  suit  of  clothes  that  was  hanging  upon  the 
back  of  a  chair  near  the  window. 

The  shrill  creak  of  the  cricket  late  in  the 
autumn  does  sometimes  sound  a  little  sad;  but 
there  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing  that  it  is  a 
song  of  complaint. 

He  generally  finds  enough  to  eat  as  long  as  he 
needs  it;  and  crickets  are  not  above  devouring 
other  insects,  in  case  they  fall  short  of  the  green, 
juicy  stems  and  leaves  of  plants. 


io8 

So  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  if  a  bold, 
hungry  cricket  should  chance  to  call  at  the  door 
of  a  well-to-do  ant,  she  had  much  better  divide  her 
store  with  him,  than  to  run  the  risk  of  being  eaten 
herself. 

"RAIN    FROGS." 

WILLIE  and  James  were  on  their  way  to  school. 
It  had  rained  very  hard  during  the  night,  and  there 
were  little  pools  of  water  standing  all  along  the 
roadside. 

Suddenly  James  called  out,  "  Oh,  brother,  come 
here,  and  look  at  these  queer  little  frogs  that  have 
just  rained  down.  Some  of  them  have  quite  long 
tails,  and  others  have  no  tails  at  all.  I  wonder  if 
there  are  any  more  like  them  in  the  clouds,"  and  he 
looked  upward  toward  the  sky. 

"  Let's  take  a  few  of  them  to  school,"  said  Willie. 

So  they  gathered  quite  a  number  of  the  little 
animals  and  put  them  into  one  of  their  dinner  pails, 
which  they  had  emptied  for  that  purpose. 

When  the  teacher  saw  what  the  boys  had  brought 
to  school,  she  was  greatly  pleased,  and  promised 
them  a  little  talk  upon  the  subject ;  and  this  is  what 
they  learned  that  day  about  "rain  frogs,"  as  they 
are  often  called : 


109 

Some  of  these  animals  were  young  toads  that 
had  been  hatched  from  eggs  that  the  mother  toad 
had  laid  in  a  small  stream  of  water  not  far  away. 

Toads  never  go  near  the  water  except  to  lay  their 
eggs,  and  these  are  deposited  in  long  chains.  From 
each  egg,  a  very  small,  jet- 
black  tadpole  is  hatched ; 
for  toads  have  to  pass 
through  the  tadpole  stage 
the  same  as  their  cousins, 
the  frogs,  and  when  they 
finally  leave  the  water, 

,,  ,  .       .  Toad's  Eggs. 

their  skin  is  so  very  ten- 
der that  they  can  not  endure  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

So  they  go  down  into  the  moist  earth,  and  re- 
main there  during  the  hottest  part  of  the  day ;  but 
if  they  hear  heavy  raindrops  falling  upon  the 
ground,  they  come  up  at  once  to  enjoy  the  cool- 
ing shower;  and  that  is  why  Willie  and  James 
found  so  many  of  them  along  the  roadside  that 
morning. 

As  they  grow  larger,  they  shed  their  warty  skins, 
and  a  very  queer  figure  they  cut,  too,  as  they  pull 
their  loose  brown  coats  off,  over  their  heads.  Just 
before  this  coat  is  cast  off,  it  becomes  quite  dry, 
and  its  color  looks  faded  and  dull. 

Presently  it  begins  to  split  down  the  back,  and 


110 


soon  after  that,  small  rents  appear  upon  the  under 
side  of  it. 

At  about  this  stage,  the  poor  toad  looks  ragged 
enough ;  but  he  pays  no  heed  to  that,  for  he  well 
knows  that  he  has  a  fine,  new  garment  hidden 
away,  underneath.  So  he  proceeds  to  get  rid  of 
the  old  one  as  soon  as  possible. 

He  twists  and  turns 

his  body,  and  uses 
first  a  hind  leg,  and 
then  a  fore  leg,  till  at 
last  he  is  entirely  free 
from  his  old  worn- 
out  suit;  but  he  seems 
to  be  very  tired  after 
the  struggle  that  he 
has  made. 

And  what  is  queerest  of  all,  he  rolls  the  old 
garment  up  into  a  small  bundle  and  swallows  it, 
without  so  much  as  a  drink  of  water  to  rinse  it 
down. 

He  does  not  even  chew  the  hard,  dry  morsel,  for 
he  has  not  a  tooth  in  either  jaw. 

Toads  can  dart  out  their  tongues  very  quickly 
to  catch  an  insect  on  the  wing;  and  they  are 
quite  as  fond  of  small  worms  and  caterpillars  as 
of  the  winged  dainties  that  come  in  their  way. 


The  Common  Toad. 


Ill 


One  day  a  toad  chanced  to  see  a  large  number 
of  small  insects  flying  about  a  panful  of  sour  dough 
that  had  been  set  out  near  the  chicken  coop. 

So  he  hopped  along  till  he  came  to  the  pan,  and 
then  he  hopped  into  that,  and  rolled  himself  over 
and  over  in  the  wet  dough. 


The  Newt  (Male  and  Young  in  the  Water,  Female  on  the  Bank). 

When  he  was  well  covered  with  it  he  jumped 
out,  and  sat  very  still  for  awhile;  it  was  not 
long  before  the  insects  began  to  swarm  about 
him,  and  behold !  his  plan  was  a  success ;  for  all 
he  had  to  do  was  to  dart  out  his  tongue  and 
gulp  them  down  as  fast  as  they  came  along. 


112 

But  what  about  the  other  little  "  rain  frogs  "  that 
the  boys  had  collected  that  morning  ? 

Behold !  they  were  not  frogs  at  all ;  they  were 
small  red  newts,  or  efts ;  and  they  are  sometimes 
called  "  land  salamanders." 

These  creatures  have  a  body  about  two  inches 
in  length,  and  the  tail  is  nearly  as  long  as  the 
body. 

They  are  very  shy,  harmless  little  things,  and 
they  live  near  the  water  in  cool,  damp  places.  So 
when  the  ground  becomes  hot  and  dry  they  bury 
themselves  in  the  same  manner  as  the  toads;  but 
after  a  shower  they  come  to  the  surface  in  large 
numbers. 

In  winter  they  coil  themselves  up  in  the  earth, 
and  remain  there  till  spring  returns. 

They  are  playful  creatures,  and  will  run,  and 
chase  one  another  about,  as  lively  as  kittens. 

Some  of  them  are  of  a  dull,  red  color,  and  others 
are  of  a  bright,  orange  red,  sprinkled  with  black 
dots. 

They  feed  on  insects,  worms,  and  snails,  and  are 
far  more  helpful  than  harmful  in  the  world. 

Most  of  them  are  born  in  the  water,  and  when 
first  hatched  they  have  the  tadpole  form. 

They  are  cousins  to  the  water  salamanders,  so 
often  seen  in  creeks  and  small  ponds. 


H3 

But  the  water  salamanders  have  the  back  of  a 
deep-olive  shade,  and  the  under  parts  of  a  rich, 
orange  yellow  studded  with  black  dots ;  while  along 
the  sides  are  small  shining  spots  of  flame.  Some  of 
them  are  very  beautiful. 

These  harmless  creatures  are  often  found  in 
small  streams  in  Ireland ;  and  many  of  the  peas- 
ants believe  that  if  you  venture  to  look  down  too 
closely  into  the  water  at  them,  they  will  leap  into 
your  throat  and 
raise  a  large  fam- 
ily of  young  ones 
in  your  stomach. 

And  they  claim 
that  the  only  rem-  The  Water  Salamander- 

edy  for  this  evil  is  to  find  a  stream  of  water  run- 
ning directly  toward  the  south,  and  to  lean  over 
it  with  the  mouth  wide  open,  till  the  animal  jumps 
out  into  the  stream. 

Now  we  shall  not  believe  such  foolish  stories  as 
these ;  neither  shall  we  believe  that  frogs,  newts,  or 
any  other  living  creatures  "  rain  down  "  from  the  sky. 

For  if  we  use  our  eyes  and  study  the  habits  of 
these  shy  neighbors  of  ours,  we  shall  find  that 
each  particular  kind  has  its  own  work  to  do,  and 
that  every  living  thing  about  us  was  created  to 
act  its  part  in  the  world. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  8 


H4 

MOVING   DAY. 

PART    I. 

"  DEAR  me !  "  said  a  very  old  worker  ant,  as  she 
bit  off  a  piece  of  soft  earth,  and  rolled  and  smoothed 
it  with  her  feet.  "  Dear  me !  my  teeth  are  nearly 
worn  out  now,  and  this  roadway  is  not  half  done  yet." 

"  Just  look  at  me ! "  said  a 
nimble  young  ant,  as  she  stood 
up  on  her  hind  feet  and  bit  off 
a  mite  of  hard  sand  above  her 
head. 

"  And  just  look  at  me  !  "  said 
a  large  drone,  as  he  spread  four 
thin  wings,  and  flew  out  at  the 

Drone. 

open  door  of  the  ant-hill. 

"  Yes,  you  have  a  fine  time  of  it,  Mr.  Drone," 
said  the  old  ant;  "but  any  of  us  could  do  that,  if 
we  had  wings." 

As  she  said  this,  a  long  line  of  little  ants  ran 
across  the  roadway,  and  each  one  held  in  her  jaws 
a  small,  white  roll. 

Little  girl,  little  boy,  you  and  I  have  often  seen 
small  ants  running  about  in  this  way,  but  we  did 
not  dream  that  these  tiny  white  rolls  were  wee 
larval  babies,  did  we  ? 


Neither  did  we  know  that  the  nimble  little  ants 
that  were  carrying  them  about  were  the  nurses  of 
the  family.  And  what  faithful  little 
nurses  they  are ! 

When  the  weather  is  fine,  they 
carry  the  infants  up  into  the  sun- 
light ;  but  if  the  sky  grows  dark,  or 
if  a  few  drops  of  rain  fall,  they  seize 
them  at  once,  and  take  them  down 
into  the  little  bedrooms  below. 

They  pet  them,  too,  and  lick  them  with  their 
little  rough  tongues,  and  feed  them,  from  their  own 
mouths,  with  food  which  they  make  ready  for  them. 
Now  the  queen  and  the  drones  are  the  only  ants 
that  have  wings ;  and  that  is  why  the  old  ant  said 
to  the  drone,  "  We  could  any  of  us  do  that,  if  we 

had  wings." 

The  upper  two  wings 
are  hooked  fast  to  the 
lower  pair ;  they  are 
much  larger  than  the 
lower  two,  and  com- 
pletely hide  them  when  the  insect  is  at  rest. 

But  the  queen  has  no  use  for  her  wings  after  she 
goes  down  into  the  earth ;  so  she  unhooks  them 
from  her  body,  and  lays  them  aside;  and  sometimes 
the  worker  ants  take  them  off  for  her. 


'Then  she  goes  about  laying  eggs ;  and  as  fast  as 
she  drops  them,  the  workers  follow  her  and  take 
care  of  them.  These  mites  of  eggs  are  of  a  yel- 
lowish white,  and  are  somewhat  oval  in  form. 

It  takes  but  a  month  for  the  eggs  of  some 
kinds  of  ants  to  hatch  out ;  but  there  are  other 
kinds  that  require  a  much  longer  period.  For 
sometimes  the  eggs  are  laid  in  the  fall,  and  they  do 
not  hatch  out  until  the  next  spring ;  and  even  after 
the  insect  enters  the  pupa  state,  it  often  remains 
inclosed  in  its  pupa  case  for  six  or  seven  weeks. 
Now  there  were  a  good  many  larval  babies  in 
this  ant-hill.  The  eggs  were  laid  late  in  the  fall 
before ;  and  now  that  spring  had  come, 
and  they  were  all  hatched  out,  it  made 
a  large  family  for  one  house. 

So  it  happened,  one  day,  that  the  same 
wise  old  ant  who  had  spoken  first,  said : 
"  There  are  too  many  of  us  here." 

"  What  is  to  be  done  about  it  ? "  asked 
another. 

"  We  must  look  for  new  quarters,"  said 

Ant's  Leg.      she. 

As  she  spoke,  she  drew  one  of  her  fore  feet 
through  her  jaws,  two  or  three  times. 

Now  old  as  she  was,  she  was  a  very  neat  creature, 
in  all  her  habits,  She  carried  a  small  hairy  brush 


H7 

on  each  fore  leg,  and  as  soon  as  she  found  a  mite  of 
dirt  upon  her  body,  she  brushed  it  off;  and  when 
she  wanted  to  clean  the  brush,  she  drew  it  through 
her  mouth  in  the  way  that  I  have  told  you. 

That  was  a  good  example  to  set  for  the  others, 
too  ;  for  some  of  the  younger  ants,  who  were  watch- 
ing her,  began  to  brush  themselves,  without  delay. 


The  Ants'  Moving  Day. 

Now  it  was  not  many  days  after  this,  that  a  long 
line  of  ants  marched  out  of  the  door  at  the  top  of 
the  hill,  and  went  away  to  live  in  a  new  nest. 

Busy  workers  went  down  under  the  ground  to 
make  new  rooms  and  roadways  ;  a  double  line  of 
nurses  hurried  along  after  them.  Some  of  these 
nurses  carried  in  their  jaws  a  small,  white,  legless 
larval  infant,  while  others  carried  the  pupa  cases ; 
and  it  was  not  long  before  there  was  plenty  of  room 
in  the  old  nest  that  they  had  left  behind. 

Many  new  lines  were  formed  as  they  went  to  and 
fro,  and  each  active  little  ant  seemed  to  have  its 
own  particular  work  to  do. 

In  fact,  they  did  just  as  all  people  do  who  are 


11$ 

moving;  some  of  them  carried  a  load  of  valuables 
to  the  new  home,  while  others  returned,  empty- 
handed  for  more. 

MOVING   DAY. 

PART    II. 

"  WE  have  left  our  good  little  cows  behind  us," 
said  the  wise  old  ant.     "  Who  will  go  after  them  ?  " 
Just  at  that  moment  there  came 
a  large  number  of  workers  running 
with    all    speed    towards    the    new 
home,  each  with   a  tiny  green  in- 

A  Plant  Louse.  .  .      ..     .  ^i 

sect  in  its  jaws.  1  nese  green  insects 
are  the  ants'  cows. 

The  ants  had  built  their  new  quarters  near  the 
roots  of  a  tree  ;  there  the  fine,  tender  rootlets  ran 
down  into  their  nests  ;  and  here  the  workers 
stopped,  and  let  fall  their  light  burdens. 

Now  these  "good  little  cows  "  were  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  a  family  of  small  green  plant  lice. 

These  insects  belong  to  the  bug  family  ;  1  and  al- 
though they  are  such  tiny  things  themselves,  they 
have  some  relations  that  are  of  large  size,  and  that 
make  quite  a  noise  in  the  world. 


1  He-mip'te-ra  :   this   w^rd   means   half  wing;   the  upper  wings  of 
these  insects  are  thick  at  the  base. 


Some  of  them  do  a  great  deal  of  harm,  too,  as 
you  will  learn  when  you  read  the  story  about  the 
squash  bug. 

At  a  certain  time  of  the  year  there  are  some 
plant  lice  that  have  wings ;  but  these  tiny  "  green 
cows  "  have  none. 

Their  bodies  are  small ;  but  they  have  very  long 
antennae,  long,  slender  legs,  and  a  beak  that  is 
three-jointed. 

With  this  strong,  horny  beak  they  are  able  to 
suck  the  juice  from  every  part  of  a  plant,  even  from 
the  topmost  leaf,  to  the  very  roots.  And  sometimes 
they  will  cling  to  a  twig  or  a  root  with  their  beaks, 
and  throw  up  their  legs,  as  if  they  were  having  a  real 
frolic  among  themselves;  and  if  they  are  touched 
or  disturbed  in  any  way,  they  will  resent  it  with  a 
speedy  kick. 

Now  the  juice  that  they  suck  from  the  plants 
soon  turns  to  honey  within  their  small  bodies ;  but 
they  do  not  store  it  up,  as  the  honeybees  do. 

At  the  end  of  their  bodies  there  is  a  small  opening 
from  which  this  sweet  honeylike  fluid  is  continually 
dropping. 

Ants  are  very  fond  of  this  sweet  fluid,  and  when 
it  does  not  fall  fast  enough  to  please  them,  they  will 
pat  the  lice  with  their  antennae  and  coax  them  to 
give  out  more.  This  is  their  way  of  milking  the  cows. 


120 


They  take  very  good  care  of  their  cows  too ; 
they  stroke  them,  and  keep  them  clean,  and  will 
not  allow  any  harm  to  befall  them. 

They  carry  them  down  into  their  nests,  and 
place  them  near  the  sweet,  juicy  roots  of  the 
plants,  where  they  will  be  sure  to  have  plenty  to 
eat.  In  fact,  they  look  upon  these  plant  lice  as 
their  own  property. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  the  old  ant  was  un- 
easy because  they  were  left  behind  ? 

We  often  read  in  books  of  travel  about  different 
kinds  of  ants  that  do  very  wonderful  things. 

Some  of  them  wage  war  on  their  neighbors  and 
make  prisoners  of  them ;  they  will  even  carry  off 
the  larval  babies  of  their  weaker  neighbors  and 
bring  them  up  as  slaves. 

And  there  is  another  kind  that  builds  large 
mounds,  and  makes  smooth  pavements  around 
them.  And  there  are  still  others,  so  very  wise 
that  they  know  how  to  plant  seeds  and  to  harvest 
their  crops. 

In  Africa  there  is  a  kind  called  the  driver  ants, 
and  they  are  well  named ;  for  they  march  in  great 
armies,  and  drive  everything  before  them. 

But  we  need  not  go  to  foreign  countries  in  order 
to  study  the  knowing  ways  of  these  little  insects ; 
for  we  may  find  them  here,  all  about  us.  We 


121 

may  look  for  them  in  trees,  in  decayed  stumps, 
and  under  stones ;  while  we  can  see  their  small 
hillocks  thrown  up  all  along  the  wayside. 

A  gentleman  who   wanted  to  see  these   insects 
at  work  in  their  underground  homes,  once  visited 


An  Ant  Nest,  with  Underground  Passages. 

an  ant-hill,  and  carried  with  him  a  large  pane  of 
glass. 

He  pressed  a  sharp  edge  of  the  pane  down 
through  the  center  of  the  hill ;  and  then,  with  a 
spade,  he  scraped  away  one  half  of  the  hill  and 
went  away  and  left  it  tor  a  short  time. 


122 


The  ants  seemed  to  be  greatly  distressed  at  first ; 
but  after  awhile  they  all  gathered  into  that  part  of 
the  nest  that  was  left  unharmed, 

Then  the  gentleman  went  close  to  the  hill,  and 
looked  through  the  glass. 

There  he  saw  roadways,  halls,  and  rooms,  both 
large  and  small ;  and  through  these,  there  were 
hundreds  of  busy  worker  ants,  running  about  in 
all  directions,  each  one  performing  its  own  task 
in  its  own  way. 

Now  why  may  not  you  and  I  surprise  these 
knowing  little  creatures  on  some  moving  day  ? 
And  when  they  become  quietly  settled  down  in 
their  new  quarters,  we,  too,  can  put  a  pane  of 
glass  into  the  front  door  of  their  underground 
home,  and  see  for  ourselves  how  they  manage 
their  household  affairs ;  for  it  is  always  better  to 
use  our  own  eyes,  so  far  as  we  are  able,  than  to 
depend  upon  the  stories  that  are  told  to  us  by 
others. 

GROWLER'S    PRIZE. 

Two  large  falcons  lived  in  the  top  of  a  tall  pine 
tree.  Their  home  was  built  in  the  fork  of  the  tree, 
and  was  securely  made;  but,  to  say  the  least,  it  was 
a  very  rough  and  homely  abode. 


123 

It  was  built  of  coarse  sticks  and  leaves,  and  was 
lined  with  dry,  loose  bark. 

Within  the  nest  were  five  quite  large  eggs  of 
a  dirty  bluish  color,  blotched  with  brown.  The 
female  bird  guarded  these  eggs  with  so  much  care 
that  she  would  scarcely  leave  them,  even  for  a  few 
moments  at  a  time. 

So  her  mate  had  to  provide  food  for  her,  as  well 
as  for  himself,  and  it  kept  him  constantly  on  the 
wing;  for  the  mistress  of  the  house  had  an  excel- 
lent appetite,  and  she  wanted  the  very  best  thing 
that  could  be  found  in  the  market. 

Mr.  Falcon  was  a  strong,  fine-looking  fellow,  with 
a  bold,  dashing  air  about  him,  upon  which  he  really 
seemed  to  pride  himself. 

In  fact,  —  it  may  as  well  be  told  first  as  last, — 
Mr.  Falcon's  common,  everyday  name  was  "chicken 
hawk  " ;  and  you  have  no  doubt  heard  of  him  many 
a  time;  for  he  was  a  fierce  highway  robber  by 
trade,  and  he  understood  his  business  well. 

He  was  dressed  in  a  thick,  heavy  suit  of  bluish 
gray,  with  a  dark  head  covering.  He  wore  white 
about  his  throat ;  but  his  breast  and  his  sides  were 
handsomely  flecked  with  light,  yellowish  red. 

His  rounded  tail  was  marked  above,  with  four, 
very  dark,  brown  bands  ;  while  the  under  part  and 
the  tips  of  the  tail  feathers  were  white. 


clad  in  about 
sharp,  curved 
they  both  went 


His  mate 
was      even 

Chicken  Hawks      larger  than 
with  their  Prize,    he,  and  was 

the  same  attire,  and  oh,  what 
claws  they  had  !  So  when 
proudly  soaring  through 
forest  and  field,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  smaller 
and  weaker  birds  about  them  quaked  with  fear. 

Mr.  Falcon  sat  on  a  bough  near  the  nest,  dress- 
ing his  plumage  with  great  care.  At  length,  he 
said  to  his  mate,  "  I  am  going  out,  my  dear ;  what 
would  you  like  for  your  dinner?" 

"  I  have  been  thinking,"  she  replied,  "  that  a  nice 


125 

chicken  pie  would  not  come  amiss."  And  as  she 
spoke  she  snapped  her  curved,  horny  bill  several 
times,  as  if  she  could  already  taste  the  flavor  of 
the  fine  treat  in  store  for  her. 

"  I  am  getting  very  tired,"  she  added,  "  of  frogs 
and  squirrels  and  field  mice,  —  and  as  for  a  grass- 
hopper or  a  cricket,  I  fairly  loathe  the  sight  of 
one." 

"  Very  well/'  answered  Mr.  Falcon,  with  an  assur- 
ing tone,  "very  well;  have  what  you  like,"  and  he 
stretched  his  long,  narrow  wings,  and  was  off  in 
a  jiffy. 

Now  it  so  happened  that  a  mother  hen  and  her 
brood  of  half-grown  chickens  were  also  ranging  the 
fields  that  day  in  search  of  a  good  dinner. 

There  had  been  a  little  shower  the  night  before, 
just  enough  to  moisten  the  earth;  and  it  had 
brought  to  the  surface  of  the  ground  many  a  fat 
prize  in  the  shape  of  a  grub  or  a  worm. 

So  there  was  a  rich  repast  spread  out  for  that  hun- 
gry family,  and  what  was  best  of  all,  they  did  not 
even  have  to  scratch  for  it ! 

Grasshoppers,  crickets,  angleworms,  and  grubs, 
all  on  one  bill  of  fare,  —  that  was  a  luxury  indeed ! 

Now  who  could  expect  the  watchful  mother  hen 
to  turn  away  from  such  a  feast  as  that,  in  order 
to  gaze  upwards  at  the  clouds.  But  it  might  have 


126 

saved  her  a  vast  amount  of  trouble  and  of  fright 
if  she  had  done  so. 

For  see !  there  is  a  dark  form  swooping  down 
with  noiseless  wings  just  above  her  head.  Sud- 
denly she  becomes  aware  of  the  danger,  and  her 
feathers  are  so  ruffled  that  she  looks  twice  her 
natural  size. 

"  Cluck !  cluck ! "  she  calls  in  her  very  sharpest 
tones  of  command ;  and  her  frightened  family 
understand,  too  well,  that  signal  of  alarm,  for  they 
have  heard  it  before. 

Not  less  than  three  of  their  number  have  already 
been  seized  and  borne  away  by  the  terrible  claws 
that  are  now  reaching  down  after  another. 

Hither  and  thither  they  run,  in  all  directions, 
not  knowing,  in  their  fright,  which  way  to  go ; 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  means  of  escape  for 
them. 

The  terror-stricken  mother  clucks  and  calls,  and 
seeks  for  a  hiding  place,  in  vain. 

Alas,  has  she  discovered  the  danger  too  late  ? 
For  now  the  fierce  talons  of  the  robber  are  about 
to  fasten  upon  another  of  her  luckless  brood. 

"  Bang!  bang!  "  what  a  cloud  of  smoke  !  But  it 
clears  away,  and  there  stands  a  hunter  with  a  gun 
in  his  hand. 

But  he  did  not  bring  down  the  bold  robber,  after 


127 

all;  for  do  you  not  hear  that  shrill  screech  of  de- 
fiance as  he  disappears  from  view  ? 

With  all  possible  speed,  the  old  hen  and  her 
chickens  hasten  back  to  the  barnyard,  well  content 
to  dine  on  the  simplest  fare,  rather  than  to  risk 
their  lives  for  the  more  choice  tidbits  of  the  field. 

On  the  top  of  an  old  stump,  in  the  middle  of  a 
quiet  stream,  sits  the  falcon,  perfectly  composed, 
with  not  so  much  as  one  feather  of  his  fine  plumage 
out  of  place. 

A  mother  duck  and  her  young  ones  are  moving 
quietly  about  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  entirely 
unconscious  of  danger.  Their  webbed  feet  are 
made  for  swimming,  and  they  enjoy  it.  All  at 
once  the  mother  discovers  her  enemy,  sitting  there 
so  still,  on  the  old  stump. 

She  gives  the  alarm,  dives  to  the  bottom,  and  in 
a  twinkling,  every  little  duckling  disappears  with 
her.  She  swims  away  from  her  family,  quite  a 
little  distance,  and  then  comes  to  the  top,  hoping 
the  falcon  will  make  a  dash  at  her,  instead  of  at  the 
little  ones. 

But  he  is  too  wise  a  bird  for  that ;  he  has  watched 
these  swimmers,  many  a  time,  and  he  understands 
their  ways. 

He  knows  that  the  ducklings  can  not  swim  very 
far  under  the  water,  and  that  they  will  soon  come 


128 

to  the  surface  for  air,  very  near  the  place  where 
they  went  down ;  so  he  keeps  his  eye  on  the  spot. 

For  he  says  to  himself,  "  Since  Mrs.  Falcon  has 
been  cheated  out  of  her  chicken  pie,  nothing  less 
than  a  nice  plump  duckling  can  fill  its  place."  And 
he  patiently  watches  his  chance. 

Pretty  soon  up  comes  a  small,  downy  head ;  then 
another,  and  another. 

The  mother  duck  tries,  but  all  in  vain,  to  attract 
his  attention  to  herself;  for  he  suddenly  leaves 
his  perch  and  sweeps  down  till  he  almost  touches 
the  water  with  his  wings.  Then  he  stretches  out 
his  long  claws.  But  again  is  heard  the  "  bang ! 
bang ! "  of  a  gun. 

And  when  the  smoke  clears  away  this  time,  there 
lies  the  wounded  falcon,  struggb'n^  to  rise  from  the 
water;  but  he  finds  himself  helpless,  with  a  broken 
wing. 

Just  at  this  point  comes  a  loud  "quack,  quack," 
that  sounds  exactly  like  a  mocking  laugh,  and  the 
old  duck  and  her  brood  make  swiftly  for  the  shore. 

"  Here,  Growler,"  calls  the  hunter,  and  with  a 
glad  bound  the  dog  springs  into  the  stream  and 
brings  his  prize  to  land. 

The  hunter  carries  it  home  and  carefully  removes 
the  skin  in  order  to  prepare  it  for  his  cabinet,  for 
he  is  a  collector  of  birds. 


I29 

And  there  sits  Mr.  Falcon  now,  mounted  on  his 
perch,  with  outstretched  wings,  and  as  I  glance  up 
at  him,  he  stares  fiercely  at  me,  with  two  immovable 
glass  eyes. 

As  for  his  body,  that  was  thrown  to  the  dogs; 
and  when  Growler  seized  upon  his  share  of  it, 
there  was  a  low,  husky  chuckle  in  his  voice  as 
he  said  to  himself,  "  Ah,  this  is  a  chicken  pie  worth 
having." 


A  Groundbird's  Nest. 


THE   REAL   CULPRIT. 

IN  a  low,  grassy  meadow,  one  morning  I  found 

Such  a  soft,  little,  snug,  mossy  nest; 
And   within    it,   four   eggs    of   the    shade    of    the 
ground,  — 

Ah,—  but  wait  till  I  tell  you  the  rest. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  9 


130 

First,  a  nimble  red  squirrel  ran  down  from  a  tree, 

But  he  did  not  peep  in  at  the  nest ; 
He  just  cracked  a  few  nuts  and  winked  slyly  at 
me, — 

Ah,  —  but  wait  till  I  tell  you  the  rest. 

Next,  a  shining,  green  snake  crept  so  near,  that 

alas, 

I  had  fears  for  that  snug  little  nest ; 
But    he    glided    away    through    the    tall    meadow 

grass, 
And,  —  but  wait  till  I  tell  you  the  rest ! 

Then    I    heard   the   soft   tread   of   a   shy  meadow 

mouse, 

But  she  swiftly  sped  on,  past  the  nest, 
In  her  search  of  sweet  nuts  for  her  winter  store- 
house, 
And,  —  but  wait  till  I  tell  you  the  rest. 

For  at  last,  a  young  truant  from  school  passed  that 
way, 

And  his  quick  eye  discovered  the  nest; 
And  now  a  poor  mother  bird  cries  all  the  day, — 

Shall  I  leave  her  to  tell  you  the  rest  ? 


HISTORY   OF   A    BUG. 

Do  you  know  the  difference  between  a  bug  and 
a  beetle?  Some  people  do  not;  and  they  call  every 
insect  that  chances  to  come  in  their  way  a  bug. 

Now  a  bug  has  a  slender,  horny  beak  that  is 
made  for  sucking  fluids;  sometimes  it  is  used  for 
sucking  up  the  juice  of  a  plant,  and  sometimes  for 
drawing  out  the  blood  of  an  animal. 

Bugs  are  very  troublesome  creatures ;  and  most 
of  them  give  out  a  bad  odor.  All  the  lice  that  are 
found,  either  upon  animals  or  upon  plants,  belong 
to  the  bug  family. 

There  are  a  few  kinds  of  bugs  that  have  no  wings 
at  all ;  but  the  greater  part  of  them  have  two  wing 
covers;  and  underneath  these  are  two  very  thin 
wings  that  are  used  in  flying. 

The  hind  part  of  each  wing  cover  is  quite  thin 
and  clear ;  while  the  fore  part  is  so  thick  that  the 
light  can  not  shine  through  it. 

The  larval  babies  that  hatch  from  the  eggs  of  a 
bug  are  very  much  like  the  full-grown  insects, 
excepting  that  their  small  wing  pads  look  like  little 
scales  upon  the  top  of  their  backs  ;  but  they  eat  and 
grow,  and  cast  off  their  skins  from  time  to  time, 
till  they  soon  become  as  large  as  their  parents, 


132 


Here  is  a  bug  that  I  found  upon  the  leaf  of  a 
squash  vine  in  the  garden.     The  leaf  was  wrinkled 
and  withered ;  and  when   I  looked  at  it  closely,   I 
discovered  that  it  was  full  of  fine  holes. 
What  was  the  cause  of  it  ? 

Ah,  Mr.  Squash  Bug  could  answer  that  question, 
if  he  could  only  speak  through  that  sharp,  horny, 
sucking    tube    that  now  lies    bent 
backward  beneath  his  breast. 

It  is  well  that  I  caught  him  this 
bright  autumn  day,  for  to-morrow 
he  might  have  hidden  himself  away 
in  a  wall  or  fence,  and  there  he 
would  have  taken  a  long  winter 
nap. 

Let  us  look  at  him.     His  body 
is  rather  more  than  half  an  inch  in 
length,  of  a  rusty,  black  color  above,  and  of  a  dirty, 
yellow  shade  beneath. 

Surely,  he  has  no  good  reason  for  being  proud  of 
his  coat,  —  and  what  an  odor ! 

On  each  side  of  the  head  there  is  a  large  com- 
pound eye,  and  on  the  back  part  of  his  head  there 
are  two  small,  single  eyes  that  shine  like  glass.  His 
two-jointed  antennae  are  quite  long,  as  you  can  see, 
and  there  is  a  knob  at  the  end  of  each  of  them. 
Now  look  at  his  wing  covers.  They  are  placed 


7he  Squash  Bug. 


'33 

crosswise  upon  his  back,  so  as  to  overlap  each  other 
at  the  tips  ;  and  the  soft,  thin  wings  that  lie  under- 
neath them  are  placed  crosswise  in  the  same  way. 

Do  they  not  remind  you  of  the  flaps  of  an  enve- 
lope ?  I  think  they  look  something  like  the  under 
side  of  an  envelope  after  it  is  sealed. 

This  bug  has  six  legs,  with  a  sharp  claw  at  the 
end  of  each  ;  and  if  you  handle  him  roughly,  you 
will  soon  find  that  he  can  give  you  a  good  nip  with 
those  claws  ;  but  you  need  have  no  fear,  it  can  not 
harm  you. 

The  upper  part  of  the  abdomen  is  black,  and  has 
a  soft,  velvety  look;  and  see,  it  is  marked  quite 
prettily  along  each  side  with  dots  of  yellow. 

And  now  let  us  find  out  how  this  insect  happened 
to  be  feasting  upon  the  leaves  of  the  squash  vine  in 
our  garden. 

Here  is  its  family  history:  Quite  late  in  the 
season,  last  fall,  a  number  of  the  squash  bug  family 
left  the  vines,  and  hid  themselves  away  in  a  safe 
place,  where  they  seemed  to  go  to  sleep  ;  and  there 
they  stayed,  without  any  food  to  eat,  all  winter. 

But  when  spring  returned,  and  the  vines  put 
forth  their  tender  leaves  again,  these  bugs  came 
out  of  their  hiding  places  and  began  to  feast  upon 
the  leaves. 

Their  appetites  were  very  keen,  as  you  may  sup- 


R 

THK 


'34 

pose,  and  they  greedily  sucked  the  juice  of  every 
leaf  as  they  went  along. 

After  they  had  feasted  about  a  month,  the  mother 
squash  bugs  began  to  lay  their  eggs.  These  little 
eggs  were  round  in  shape,  and  quite  flat ;  and  they 
were  laid  in  patches,  here  and  there,  upon  the  under 
side  of  the  leaves,  at  night. 

In  order  to  make  them  secure,  these  careful  moth- 
ers glued  them  fast,  with  a  gummy  fluid  from  their 
own  bodies.  It  was  not  many  days  before  the 
young  bugs  were  hatched  out,  and  what  homely 
little  things  they  were ! 

They  had  short,  round  bodies  that  were  of  a  pale- 
ash  color;  and  the  joints  of  their  large  antennae 
were  quite  flat. 

They  ate  and  ate,  and  grew  very  fast ;  and  after 
casting  off  their  skins  a  few  times,  they  became  as 
large  as  their  parents. 

For  a  few  days,  they  lived  together  in  little 
families;  but  they  soon  left  the  leaves  on  which 
they  were  hatched,  and  went  from  vine  to  vine,  in 
search  of  more  juicy  food,  while  all  the  leaves 
that  they  left  behind  them  became  withered  and 
brown. 

Now,  as  you  can  well  understand,  these  insects 
are  among  the  most  harmful  of  all  the  bug  family ; 
but  since  we  have  learned  so  much  concerning  their 


135 

habits,  there  is  no  good  reason  why  we  should  not 
get  rid  of  them. 

If  we  are  careful  to  watch  our  vines  as  soon 
as  the  young  leaves  put  forth,  we  shall  find  the 
bugs  before  they  have  begun  their  feast ;  and  if 
we  closely  examine  the  under  parts  of  the  leaves 
every  morning,  we  shall  find  the  bunches  of  eggs 
that  the  mother  squash  bugs  so  carefully  glued  to 
them  the  night  before ;  and  in  this  way,  it  will  not 
take  us  very  long  to  clear  our  vines  of  these  unwel- 
come visitors. 


HISTORY    OF   A   BEETLE. 

Now  that  we  have  taken  a  look  at  a  bug,  let  us 
also  take  a  look  at  a  beetle ;  then  we  shall  know 
whether  bugs  and  beetles  are  as  nearly  alike  as 
many  people  suppose  them  to  be. 

Here  we  have  a  "  May  bug,"  as  it  is  generally 
called ;  but  if  we  examine  it,  we  shall  find  that  it 
is  not  a  bug  at  all. 

This  insect  is  nearly  an  inch  in  length. 

It  has  no  sucking  beak,  for  it  needs  none ;  it  has 
two  sets  of  strong,  horny  jaws,  instead.  These  jaws 
are  for  cutting  and  biting  the  roots,  stems,  and 
leaves  of  plants ;  for  there  are  only  a  few  beetles 


136 

that  live  upon  animal  food,  and  such  beetles  usually 
prey  upon  other  insects. 

Look  at  it  closely,  and  you  will  see  that  its  jaws 
are  made  to  move  sidewise,  and  not  up  and  down, 
like  your  own. 

Its  body  is  oval  in  form,  and  of  a  chestnut-brown 
color;  but  all  beetles  do  not  have  this  oval  form. 
Some  kinds  of  beetles  have  the  body  quite  flat,  and 
some  of  them  have  very  beautiful  col- 
ors, as  well. 

Its  stiff,  hard,  wing  covers  meet  in 
a  straight  line  upon  its  back ;  they 
do  not  lap  over  at  the  tips,  like  the 
wing  covers  of  a  bug. 

Do  you  see  that  little  wedge,  where 

The  Beetle.  .  .    .        .  •  .       .  ,. 

they  are  joined  together  at  the  base  ? 
It  looks  like  a  small  gore  set  in  there  to  hold  the 
wings  in  place. 

You  can  easily  see  that  these  wing  cases  are  well 
sprinkled  over  with  little  dots,  as  if  they  had  been 
pricked,  here  and  there,  with  a  fine  needle ;  and 
there  are  three  rough  lines,  running  the  whole 
length  of  each  cover. 

Underneath  these  wing  covers  are  two,  thin, 
silky  wings,  folded  crosswise,  and  what  a  pretty 
shade  of  brown ! 

When   these  light  wings  are  spread,  then  away 


137 

goes  the  beetle,  darting  about  here  and  there  in  the 
twilight,  and  making  a  loud,  buzzing  sound  with 
its  wings,  that  is  not  at  all  pleasant  to  hear. 

Have  you  noticed  its  pretty  vest?  See,  it  is 
clothed  with  a  yellowish  down. 

Well,  well,  so  our  noisy  May  beetle  comes  out  in 
quite  a  fine  spring  suit,  after  all ! 

Its  antennae  are  many-jointed,  and  there  is  a 
knob  at  the  end  of  each  one  of  them ;  and  you  can 
plainly  see  that  each  knob  is  made  up  of  three 
leaflike  joints,  as  well. 

Notice  its  two  large,  compound  eyes.  On  the 
back  of  its  head  there  are  two  simple  eyes;  but 
these  are  so  small  that  you  will  have  to  look  closely 
to  find  them. 

Now  look  at  its  six  long  legs;  they  are  well 
clothed  with  hairs,  and  each  leg  has  a  strong, 
double  claw  at  the  end  of  it. 

When  beetles  of  this  kind  light  upon  a  tree,  they 
cling  to  the  leaves  with  their  sharp  claws.  They 
belong  to  a  class  known  as  the  tree  beetles ;  and  it 
does  not  take  a  swarm  of  them  very  long  to  strip 
both  the  twigs  and  the  branches  of  trees  entirely 
bare  of  their  foliage. 

Did  you  notice  three,  jagged,  toothlike  points  on 
the  fore  legs  of  this  insect?  Let  me  tell  you  what 
they  are  used  for. 


138 

The  mother  beetle  makes  a  hole  in  the  earth, 
and  sometimes  this  hole  is  six  inches  in  depth ;  and 
she  uses  her  strong,  jagged  fore  legs  for  digging. 

In  this  hole  she  places  her  eggs,  and  very  often 
there  are  as  many  as  fifty  or  more  of  them ;  then 
she  flies  away  and  leaves  them,  for  she  knows  they 
will  be  safe. 

Soon  after  the  eggs  are  laid,  both  the  father  and 
mother  beetle  die ;  they  do  not  hide  away  and  sleep 
through   the  winter  as  some  other  in- 
sects do. 

Now  let  us  see  what  becomes  of  the 
eggs  that  the  mother  beetle  has  placed 
Larva  of  the      in  the  ground  with  so  much  care.     In 
about  fourteen  days,  there  comes  forth 
from  each  egg  a  little,  soft  grub,  having  a  round, 
white   body  and   a  small,  brown  head ;    and  when 
this  grub  is  at  rest,  it  lies  curled  up,  in  the  form 
of  a  half  circle. 

These  larval  babies  are  provided  with  six  legs, 
and  with  a  mouth  that  is  armed  with  strong  jaws, 
and  oh,  how  greedy  they  are  for  something  to  eat ! 

During  the  warm,  summer  months  they  remain 
very  near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  gnaw  the 
roots  of  every  green  thing  that  they  can  find ;  but 
as  cold  weather  comes  on,  they  go  down  deeper 
into  the  earth. 


139 

There  they  remain  till  the  warm  springtime  re- 
turns ;  then  they  cast  off  their  skins,  and  come  up 
to  the  surface  of  the  ground  again  for  food. 

These  hungry  creatures  spend  as  many  as  three 
summers  under  the  soil,  in  this  way,  before  they 
have  eaten  all  they  want. 

And  then  they  go  down  still  farther  into  the 
earth,  as  if  they  could  not  bury  themselves  deep 
enough ;  and  there  they  enter  the  pupa  state. 

And  when  the  springtime  again  rolls  round,  they 
creep  up,  for  the  last  time,  from  the  cold,  damp 
earth  ;  and  casting  aside  their  pupa  skins,  they  come 
forth,  active,  brown-winged,  buzzing  May  beetles, 
like  their  parents  before  them. 

Many  of  these  insects  are  often  seen  flying  about 
in  the  month  of  June ;  and  then  they  are  commonly 
called  "  June  bugs." 

But  they  all  belong  to  the  same  family,  and  every 
one  of  them  is  a  destroyer  of  plant  life. 


DR.  LEECH. 

ONE  half  holiday,  three  school  boys  went  to  a 
small  pond  to  catch  some  fish. 

After  they  had  fished  awhile  without  getting 
so  much  as  one  nibble  at  the  hook,  they  threw 


146 


Sucking  Plate 
of  Leech. 


off  their  clothing  and  plunged  into  the  water  for 
a  bath. 

Finally  one  of  the  lads  swam  out  to  an  old 
stump  that  stood  near  the  middle  of  the  pond 
and  climbed  up  on  the  top. 

He  had  not  been  there  very 
long,  when  his  back,  arms,  and 
legs  began  to  tingle,  as  if  he 
had  been  stung  by  some  small 
insect ;  and  he  soon  found  that 
his  body  was  covered  in  places 
with  tiny  little  things  that 
looked  like  flat  worms. 

He  was  terror-stricken,  and 
so  were  his  mates,  and  they 
all  ran  towards  home  as  fast 
as  their  legs  would  carry  them. 
-Now  the  fact  is,  this  old 
stump  was  the  headquarters  of 

Dr.  Leech  and  his  large  family  of  young  ones ;  and  a 
more  bloodthirsty  set  of  creatures  was  never  known. 
Indeed,  they  are  often  called  bloodsuckers,  and 
that  is  a  good  name  for  them. 

The  leech  is  an  ugly,  thick-skinned  worm,  having 
a  very  flat  body  that  tapers  at  each  end.  Its  color 
is  generally  dark,  thickly  mottled  with  light-brown 
dots. 


Jaw  of  Leech. 


The  Leech. 


This  creature  has  a  sucking  plate  at  each  end  oi 
its  body;  and  when  it  fastens  itself  upon  the  skin 
of  any  other  animal,  it  is  very  hard  to  make  it 
loosen  its  hold. 

Its  mouth  is  in  the  center  of  the  forward  plate, 
and  is  armed  with  three  small  teeth  that  are 
notched  like  the  sharp  edge  of  a  saw. 

So  when  the  sucking  plate  has  stretched  the  skin 
smooth  and  tight,  the  fine,  sawlike  teeth  press  down 
hard  upon  it, 
until  three  deep 
cuts  are  made, 
in  the  form  of 
a  triangle.1 

Then  the 
leech  draws  the 
blood  into  its 

stomach,  and  holds  right  on,  till  it  has  filled  it- 
self full.  It  is  said  that  one  of  these  creatures  can 
eat  enough  at  one  meal  to  last  a  year. 

With  such  a  savage  animal  as  that  in  the  pond, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  the  lads  caught  no  fish ;  for 
these  hungry  worms  fairly  drain  both  the  frogs  and 
the  fishes  of  their  very  lifeblood ;  and  when  they 
can  not  find  anything  better,  they  will  devour  one 
another. 

1  A  figure  bounded  by  three  lines  and  having  three  angles. 


Cocoons  of  the  Leech. 


I42 

This  leech  worm  lays  about  a  dozen  eggs  in  a 
gluey  band  that  encircles  the  upper  half  of  its  body. 

When  all  the  eggs  are  laid,  the  worm  withdraws 
itself  from  the  band,  which  then  closes  up,  forming 
a  strong  sac.  This  sac  is  the  cocoon ;  it  is  oval  in 
shape,  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length,  and 
contains  from  six  to  sixteen  eggs. 

The  egg  cases  of  the  leech  may  offen  be  found 
in  mud  banks,  and  also  in  old  Jogs  and  stumps  that 
are  in  the  water. 

The  baby  bloodsuckers  stay  in  their  slimy  cradles 
nearly  a  month ;  and  then  they  begin  to  push  hard, 
with  their  heads,  against  the  walls  of  their  cocoons, 
till  some  weak  point  gives  way,  and  lets  them  out. 

They  are  very  thin  little  things  at  first,  not  a 
tenth  of  an  inch  in  length,  and  no  thicker  than  a 
fine  thread.  But  they  know  well  how  to  use  their 
teeth,  as  the  poor  lad  that  visited  the  old  stump 
that  day  could  testify. 

In  winter,  they  are  not  seen ;  for  they  bury  them- 
selves under  water,  deep  in  the  mud,  till  spring  re- 
turns ;  then  they  come  up  more  bloodthirsty  than 
ever. 

But  we  must  give  these  ugly  worms  the  credit  of 
doing  some  good  in  the  world ;  for  they  were  for- 
merly much  used  to  draw  out  the  impure  blood  of 
people  who  were  sick, 


A   DIVIDED    HOUSEHOLD. 

PART    I. 

WHAT  a  noisy  din  and  bustle  there  is  in  the 
domain  of  the  queen  honeybee  to-day !  I  wonder 
what  it  all  means.  We  will  wait  a  little  while  and 
maybe  we  shall  be  able  to  learn  more  about  it. 

Ah,  now  I  understand  it;  the  bees  are  getting 
ready  to  swarm.  Let  me  explain. 

When  honeybees  swarm,  a  large  number  of  them 
fly  away  from  the  hive,  and  the  queen  bee  goes 
with  them. 

Now  this  queen  and  her  subjects  have  a  nice, 
large  hive  under  that  old  apple  tree  in  the  garden ; 
and  one  would  suppose  that  they  might  all  dwell 
together  there  in  peace  and  harmony.  But  not  so ; 
for  this  morning  there  came  a  thin,  piping  sound 
from  one  of  the  cells,  and  there  is  just  where  the 
trouble  began. 


144 


The  moment  the  queen  bee  heard  the  sound,  she 
said,  "  Ha,  that  is  the  voice  of  a  young  queen,  I 
know  it  well,  and  I  will  not  stay  in  this 
hive  any  longer ;    for  one  queen  in   a 
hive  is  enough." 

As  she  spoke,  she  darted  a  sharp 
piercer  out  of  the  end  of  her  body,  two 
or  three  times. 

Now,  strange  to  say,  a  queen  bee  will 
sting  another  queen  to  death,  through 
jealousy  and  spite;  but  she  never  puts 
A  Bee's  sting.    forth  her  sting  to  harm  anything  else. 

Do  you  want  to  know  how  the  queen  bee  looks  ? 
Like  all  insects,  her  body  is  made  up  of  rings ;  her 
abdomen  is  long  and  slender  and  her  wings  are  short. 

Besides  her  two,  great,  compound  eyes,  she  has 
three  single  eyes,  and  a  long,  slen- 
der tongue  for  lapping  up  sweets. 
But  she  never  stores  up  the 
sweets  that  she  gathers ;  for  she 
does  no  work.  She  is  mistress  of 
the  hive,  and  she  lays  all  the  eggs. 

She  is  a  born  queen ;  for  when 
she  was   an    infant  she    lived   on 
better  fare  than  the   other  larval 
babies  in  the  swarm.     Is  she  to  be  blamed,  then, 
that  she  will  not  divide  her  realm  with  another  ? 


Head  of  a  Bee,  show- 
ing Compound  Eyes, 
Simple  Eyes,  and 
Antennae. 


145 

Ah,  she  will  forsake  the  hive  before  she  will  do 
that;  and  when  she  goes  away,  more  than  half  of 
her  subjects  will  follow  her.  But  what  if  she 
should  die  ? 

If  there  were  more  royal  babies  in  the  cells,  a 
young  queen  would  take  her  place.  But  should 
there  chance  to  be  none,  then  the  bees  would  take 
a  common  larva  and  feed  it  with  royal  fare,  and  it 
would  grow  up  to  be  a  queen ;  for  a  household  of 


Queen.  Drone.  Worker. 

this  kind  can  not  exist  without  a  queen  to  lay 
its  eggs. 

The  rich,  sweet  food  that  is  fed  to  the  queen 
larvae  is  called  "  royal  jelly." 

"  Come,  come,"  says  a  busy  little  wax  worker,  "  we 
must  make  all  the  haste  that  we  can,  for  there  will 
be  plenty  of  new  comb  to  build  up." 

She  has  her  wax  baskets  already  filled ;  they  are 
on  the  under  part  of  her  abdomen. 

Every  time  she  eats  a  morsel  of  food,  a  portion 
of  it  is  changed  into  oil ;  this  oil  soon  hardens  and 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  10 


146 

forms  thin  scales  of  wax  upon  the  rings  of  her 
abdomen  and  on  the  under  side  of  her  body. 

These  rings  are  her  wax  baskets. 

How  strange  that  the  oil  upon  the  inside  of  her 
body  should  find  its  way  to  the  outside  and  harden 
into  wax! 

But  it  is  still  more  strange  that  after  she  has 
changed  other  portions  of  her  food  into  clear,  sweet 
honey,  she  should  be  able  to  draw  it  up  from  her 
stomach,  back  into  her  mouth  again,  so  as  to  store 
it  away  in  the  white  cups  of  the  comb. 

Now  when  the  baskets  of  the  little  wax  maker 
are  full,  what  does  she  do? 

On  her  hind  legs  there  is  a  small,  hairy  brush  or 
scraper,  and  with  this  she  scrapes  the  wax  from  her 
baskets  and  passes  it  forward  to  her  jaws  with  her 
fore  feet. 

Then  she  chews  it,  and  makes  it  very  soft,  and 
when  she  draws  it  through  her  mouth,  it  comes  out 
like  a  white  satin  ribbon;  then  it  is  all  ready  to  be 
worked  into  honeycomb. 

If  you  examine  a  piece  of  the  comb,  you  will  see 
that  it  is  made  up  of  a  double  row  of  cells,  placed 
back  to  back,  in  such  a  way  that  it  forms  quite  a 
thick  middle  wall  of  wax  between  the  two  rows. 

This  wall  is  the  base  of  the  cells ;  and  here  the 
little  bee  first  begins  to  work  with  the  fine  strip  of 


147 


Honeycomb, 
showing  dif- 
ferent cells. 


white,  ribbon- 
like  wax  that  she 
has  chewed  and  softened 
so  carefully  in  her  small 
jaws. 

The  cells  are  quite  deep,  and  are 
six-sided  in  form  ;  they  are  set  very 
closely  together,  and  they  look  some- 
thing like  long,  waxen  boxes  laid 
down  upon  their  sides. 

Do  you  suppose  that  you  could 
ever  learn  to  make  a  set  of  boxes  like 
that  ?  And  yet,  the  little  brown  bee 
makes  them  very  easily  with  her 
sharp  jaws,  without  any  one  to  teach 
her  how. 

In  every  hive  there  are  more  busy 
little  wax  makers  than  you  can  count. 
Their  bodies  are  not  so  large  as  those 
of  the  queen;  but  their  wings  are 
larger  and  stronger  than  hers. 


148 

And  they  need  just  such  strong  wings  as  they 
have ;  for  they  must  fly,  far  and  wide,  in  search  of 
sweets  to  make  their  clear  honey,  and  to  furnish 
wax  for  the  comb. 

These  busy  little  creatures  are  well  named  the 
"  workers  "  in  the  hive,  since  they  both  make  the 
cells  and  fill  them  with  honey  for  their  winter  store. 

But  the  cells  are  not  all  of  the  same  size ;  neither 
are  they  all  used  for  the  same  purpose. 

Some  of  them  are  made  for  holding  honey;  others 
are  for  the  queen  bee  to  lay  her  eggs  in ;  and 
others,  still,  are  for  storing  a  kind  of  food  called 
beebread. 

This  beebread  is  a  sticky  mass  that  the  bees 
make  of  a  fine  dust,  called  pollen,  which  they  gather 
from  flowers ;  the  bread  is  of  a  dark-brown  color, 
and  is  not  sweet  to  the  taste. 

The  queen  bee  lays  her  eggs  in  three  separate 
sets  of  cells,  placing  one  egg  in  each  cell. 

She  first  lays  some  eggs  in  the  small  cells  that 
are  used  for  hatching  out  workers ;  then  she  lays 
some  more  eggs  in  a  set  of  larger  cells  that  are 
built  for  hatching  out  thick,  stout-bodied  bees  called 
"  drones." 

These  drones  have  no  stings,  and  they  do  not 
gather  honey.  They  are  the  father  bees  in  the  hive; 
while  the  queen  bee  is  the  mother. 


149 

Finally  she  lays  a  few  eggs  in  some  large,  flask- 
shaped  cells  that  are  built  on  the  edge  of  the  comb. 
When  the  comb  becomes  old,  these  cells  are  dark- 
colored,  and  they  look  like  large  peanuts  hanging 
there. 

These  are  queen  cells,  and  there  are  not  very 
many  of  them ;  but  all  of  the  other  cells  are  smaller 
than  these,  and  are  made  six-sided,  as  I  have  told 
you. 

A   DIVIDED    HOUSEHOLD. 

PART    II. 

So  the  little  wax  worker  was  right.  There  will 
be  a  good  deal  of  new  comb  to  be  made ;  but  she 
will  have  thousands  of  helpers  all  around  her. 

And  there  will  be  thou- 
sands of  others,  carrying 
baskets  of  pollen  for  bee- 
bread,  on  which  the  lar- 
val babies  are  reared. 

-^  .    .  r  Leg  of  Worker. 

Between  the  joints  of 

each  hind  leg  there  is  a  small  space,  hidden  by 
short,  stiff  hairs ;  and  these  are  the  little  baskets 
that  hold  the  pollen. 

When  a  busy  worker  comes  out  of  a  deep  flower, 
she  looks  like  a  dusty  miller,  only  the  dust  that 


clings  to  her  body  is  often  quite  yellow;  but  she 
has  a  little  tuft  of  hairs  on  one  of  her  legs,  and 
with  this  she  brushes  the  pollen  from  her  body  and 
stores  it  in  her  baskets,  where  it  belongs. 

Oh,  she  starts  out  for  her  day's  work  well  pre- 
pared, as  you  can  see,  and  she  never  loses  her 
baskets  on  the  way,  either. 

Now  in  every  hive  or  colony  of  bees  there  are 
more  worker  cells  than  any  other  kind.  For  it  is 
the  busy  workers  that  make  up  the  col- 
ony; and  among  these  there  are  a  great 
many  that  act  as  nurses  in  the  hive ; 
and  it  is  these  nurse  bees  that  take 
charge  of  the  larval  babies,  and  feed 
them  when  they  are  hungry. 

As  these  baby  bees  lie  curled  up  in 
their   cells,  they  look  like  little  white 

Larva  of  Bee.  /  ... 

worms  ;  and  when  they  are  in  need  of 
food  the  nurses  chew  some  beebread  very  fine  and 
soft,  and  feed  it  to  them  from  their  own  jaws. 

But  when  they  have  eaten  all  they  want,  they  no 
longer  lie  curled  up  in  the  cell;  so  when  the. nurses 
see  that  these  larval  babies  have  straightened  out 
their  small  bodies,  they  put  a  thin  cap  of  wax  over 
each  cell,  and  then  each  baby  spins  a  silken  cocoon 
about  itself,  and  goes  to  sleep,  in  its  pretty  waxen 
cradle. 


It  takes  about  twenty-one  days  for  a  worker  bee 
to  hatch  from  the  egg;  and  then  it  casts  aside  its_ 
silken   wrap,   gnaws    open    the   waxen    cover,    and 
comes  out  with  four  thin  wings. 

It  takes  only  sixteen  days  for  the  young  queens 
to  hatch  out ;  but  the  drone  bees  are  about  twenty- 
four  days  in  hatching. 

Sometimes  the  worker  babies  have  to  struggle 
very  hard  to  come  forth ;  but  the  nurse  bees  always 
help  the  royal  infants  out. 

When  a  young  bee  first  comes  out  of  its  cell, 
both  its  body  and  its  wings  are  of  a  very  pale- 
brown  shade,  and  it  seems  to  be  rather  weak  in 
its  legs ;  but  it  begins  at  once  to  creep  about  over 
the  comb,  and  when  it  comes  to  a  cell  that  con- 
tains honey,  it  stops  and  takes  its  first  meal  of  the 
sweet  food. 

Many  of  the  honey  cells  are  left  open  a  week  or 
more  after  they  are  filled ;  for  the  bees  will  not  cap 
them  over  with  wax  until  they  know  that  the  honey 
in  them  is  "  ripe,"  or  ready  to  be  sealed  up.  So  it 
is  always  easy  for  the  young  bee  to  find  an  open 
cell  where  it  can  eat  all  it  wants. 

But  it  does  not  feed  upon  the  stored  honey  very 
long;  for  in  a  day  or  two  it  has  the  full  use  of  its 
wings,  and  then  away  it  goes  to  gather  sweets  from 
the  flowers,  just  like  the  older  bees. 


I52 

And  it  is  well  that  it  begins  its  work  at  once; 
for  the  length  of  a  worker's  life  is  but  a  few 
months  at  most,  and  some  of  them  live  only  a  few 
weeks.  .  But  a  queen  bee  has  been  known  to  live 
four  or  five  years. 

As  for  the  drones,  the  greater  number  of  them 
are  driven  out  of  the  hive  by  the  workers ;  and 
as  they  can  not  gather  honey,  they  are  left  to 
starve ;  and  if  they  attempt  to  return  to  the  hive, 
the  workers  often  fall  upon  them,  and  sting  them 
to  death. 

Do  you  not  pity  these  poor  father  bees  ?  I  do. 
But  the  busy  workers  are  very  eager  to  store  up 
a  good  supply  of  honey  for  their  winter  use ;  and 
they  will  not  share  this  precious  store  with  the 
drones. 

A  great  many  bees  in  the  hive  die  during  the 
winter;  but  the  queen  bee  begins  to  lay  her  eggs 
very  early  in  the  spring,  and  these  eggs  hatch  out 
so  fast  that  the  number  in  the  hive  is  soon  as  large 
as  ever. 

She  wanders  about  over  the  comb  in  search  of 
cells  that  the  workers  have  prepared  for  her  eggs; 
for  she  does  not  lay  eggs  in  every  empty  cell  that 
comes  in  her  way. 

She  knows  at  once  which  are  the  egg  cells,  and 
when  she  comes  to  one  of  them,  she  lowers  the  tip 


153 


of  her  abdomen  into  it,  and  drops  an  egg;  and 
she  goes  from  cell  to  cell,  laying  about  three  thou- 
sand eggs  a  day. 

And  so  the  hive  is  always  full ;  for  a  large  num- 
ber of  young  bees  come  out  of  the  cells  every  day 
during  the  hatching  season,  which  lasts  through  the 
warm  summer  months. 

But  as  soon  as  a  young  queen  is  hatched  out,  the 
old  queen  leaves  the  hive,  and  a  large  number  of 
subjects    follow    her, 
as  we  find  them  doing     < 
now ;    and    should   a 
number     of      young 
queens     be    hatched 
out  at  the  same  time, 
only    one    would    be 
permitted  to  remain 
with  the  colony. 

The  others  would  be  taken  out,  and  put  into 
other  hives  that  had  lost  their  queen,  or  into  a 
newly-formed  colony  made  from  a  swarm  that  was 
too  large  for  one  hive. 

For  new  swarms  may  be  hived  very  easily,  if  they 
can  have  a  queen  among  them  to  lay  the  eggs. 

But  we  have  already  learned  that  one  queen  is 
enough ;  and  if  the  new  queens  are  not  removed 
as  soon  as  they  come  out  of  their  cells,  the  ruling 


A  Bee  Hive. 


154 

queen  will  seek  them  out,  and  sting  them  to  death. 
And  on  this  account,  the  owner  of  a  beehive  keeps 
a  very  close  watch  over  the  royal  cells,  in  the  hatch- 
ing season,  and  examines  them  every  few  hours  of 
the  day. 

But  see !  our  queen  has  gathered  her  subjects 
around  her  in  a  black,  buzzing  mass,  on  the  limb 
of  an  old  apple  tree. 

They  are  planning  now  which  way  they  will  go. 
And  perhaps  they  will  fly  away  to  the  woods,  and 
make  their  home  in  a  hollow  tree  or  stump ;  then 
they  will  become  "  wild  bees." 

So  we  will  spread  a  white  cloth  under  the  apple 
trees.  Bees  have  a  very  keen  sense  of  sight,  and 
they  will  notice  the  cloth  at  once ;  then  we  will 
put  some  honeycomb  in  an  empty  hive,  and  set 
the  hive  down  on  two  small  blocks  upon  the  white 
cloth. 

This  will  give  the  bees  a  chance  to  go  in  at  the 
bottom  of  the  box;  they  will  be  glad  enough  to 
move  into  a  new  house  where  there  is  some  nice 
honeycomb  to  begin  with. 

But  if  they  are  too  long  about  it,  we  will  saw  off 
the  limb  on  which  they  rest,  and  let  it  go  to  the 
ground,  very  gently ;  then  they  can  peep  in  at  the 
open  door  of  the  new  hive. 

But  these  insects  have  such   a  strong  sense  of 


155 

smell  that  they  do  not  need  to  see  the  honeycomb, 
for  they  can  smell  it  afar  off. 

So  the  old  queen  and  the  new  one  will  be 
neighbors,  after  all ;  but  each  one  will  control  her 
own  household,  and  there  will  be  no  more  cause 
for  war. 

BORN  IN  A  DITCH. 

Do  you  see  that  elegant  dragon  fly  winging  her 
way  through  the  air?  How  she  loves  the  light  of 
the  sun ! 

Her  head  is  very  large,  and  she  has  two  enor- 
mous   compound    eyes,    as 
you  can  plainly  see. 

But  she  does  not  move 
them ;  for  insects  are  not 
able  to  roll  their  eyes  about 
as  you  do. 

TT         .  .-    .        .  The  Dragon  Fly. 

Her  beautiful  wings  are 

so  finely  veined  that  they  look  as  if  they  were  made 
of  clear,  thin  gauze ;  while  all  four  of  them  are 
barred  across  the  center  with  a  rich,  golden  brown. 

Now  she  stops  and  lights  on  the  top  of  a  tall  reed 
that  grows  by  the  border  of  the  ditch. 

See,  she  pushes  the  end  of  her  body  down  into 
the  water,  and  glues  a  bunch  of  little,  yellow  eggs  to 


1 56 


the  root  of  the   reed.     Now  her  work  is  done,  and 
away  she  flies. 

A  few  weeks  later,  these  eggs  will  hatch  out. 
What  will  her  infants  be  like  ?  They  will  not  look 
like  her,  I  can  assure  you ;  for  the  larval  babies  of 
the  dragon  fly  are  ugly  things  to  behold. 

It  is  true,  each  baby  has  a  very  large  head,  two 

large  compound  eyes,  and 
a  pair  of  single  eyes,  be- 
sides ;  but  it  has  six, 
sprawling,  spiderlike  legs, 
and  no  wings  at  all. 

Moreover,  the  lower 
part  of  the  face  is  covered 
with  a  mask;  under  this 
mask  is  hidden  a  fierce 
pair  of  jaws  that  resemble 
two  sharp  hooks. 

These  greedy  creatures 
creep  about  the  pond  or  the  ditch  in  which  they 
live,  and  feed  upon  other  larval  babies. 

They  look  so  innocent  and  so  harmless  under 
this  mask,  that  their  poor  victims  seem  to  have  no 
fear  of  them  whatever. 

But  woe  betide  the  young  tadpole,  or  the  tiny 
baby  fish  that  crosses  their  path ;  for  it  will  be 
snatched  up  in  an  instant. 


Larva  and  Eggs  of  the  Dragon 
Fly. 


157 

So  they  eat  and  eat,  and  become  so  stout  that 
they  have  to  shed  their  coats  many  times. 

At  last,  some  small  wing  pads  appear;  then  the 
larvae  change  to  the  pupal  form ;  and  after  a  time, 
they  crawl  up  to  the  top  of  a  reed,  or  of  a  stem,  and 
burst  open  the  pupa  skin. 

Then  they  are  all  ready  for  a  life  in  the  sunshine 
and  in  the  open  air ;  and,  oh,  how  swiftly  and  grace- 
fully they  go  sailing  about  on  their  rainbow-tinted 
wings !  J" 

The  dragon  fly  has  some  cousins  whose  small 
wings  are  still  more  beautiful  than  her  own.  These 
insects  belong  to  the  same  great  family.1 

They  are  called  lacewings ;  but  they  give  out 
such  a  disagreeable  odor,  when  disturbed,  that  no 
one  cares  to  go  very  near  them.  They  are  not  fond 
of  the  sunshine ;  they  like  better  to  dart  about  in 
the  twilight  or  even  in  the  light  of  the  moon. 

The  dragon  fly  is  sometimes  called  the  devil's 
darning  needle ;  and  some  foolish  people  are  really 
afraid  of  her,  lest  she  may  "  sew  up  "  their  ears. 

But  you  need  not  fear  to  take  her  in  your  hand. 
She  has  no  sting  at  the  end  of  her  body ;  and  if  she 
should  chance  to  give  you  a  sharp  nip  with  her 
jaws,  it  would  not  harm  you  in  the  least. 

It  will  be  only  a  quick,  little  pinch,  that  you  will 

1  Neu-rop'te-ra,  nerve  wing. 


I58 

hardly  feel  at  all ;  but  you  must  handle  her  very 
carefully,  or  she  may  bite  off  the  end  of  her  own 
body  in  trying  to  escape. 

It  is  generally  better  to  place  such  an  insect  as 
this  under  a  glass  dish,  and  look  at  it  carefully  from 
the  outside.  Then  no  harm  can  come  to  it;  for 
you  may  regard  it  as  your  friend ;  and  when  you 
see  it  flying  about  in  the  hot  sunshine,  you  may 
know  that  it  is  in  search  of  other  insects  that  de- 
stroy your  plants  and  flowers. 

Therefore  we  will  all  look  upon  this  handsome 
creature  with  a  feeling  of  real  friendship,  even  if 
she  was  born  in  the  bottom  of  a  slimy  ditch. 


"I   TOLD   YOU   SO." 

A  PAIR  of  handsome  bluebirds  were  hopping 
briskly  about,  side  by  side,  along  the  furrows  of  a 
newly  plowed  garden. 

They  had  been  so  busily  engaged  in  picking  up 
choice  tidbits  from  the  freshly  turned  soil  that 
neither  of  them  had  spoken  a  word  for  several 
minutes. 

Both  of  these  birds  were  showily  clad  in  bright, 
azure  blue,  and  both  of  them  wore  white  on  the 
under  parts. 


159 

But  the  glossy  plumage  of  the  male  was  a  trifle 
darker  than  that  of  his  mate;  and  the  reddish- 
brown  tint  of  his  fore  neck  and  sides  was  a  little 
brighter  than  hers ;  the  feet,  as  well  as  the  bills  of 
both  birds,  were  black. 

At  last  Mrs.  Bluebird  broke  the  silence. 

"I  can  not  see,"  said  she,  "why  you   object   to 


Bluebirds. 

making  the  nest  in  that  old,  hollow  stump;  for  I 
am  sure  it  is  as  cozy  a  place  as  we  can  find." 

Mr.  Bluebird  swallowed  several  fat,  wriggling  lar- 
vae, before  he  made  any  reply. 

Then  he  cleared  his  throat  a  little  and  said,  "  But, 
my  dear,  have  you  forgotten  the  jays  and  the  crows 
that  we  saw  in  that  neighborhood  yesterday? 

"Then,  too,  there  are  the  rats  and  weasels  that 
are  prowling  about  there  all  the  time.  No,  I  am  in 


i6o 


favor  of  taking  possession  of  that  fine  martin  box 
under  the  bough  yonder;  it  is  roomy  and  safe,  and 
think  of  the  time  that  will  be  saved  in  building 
the  nest." 

"Yes,  and  be  driven  out  of  it  by  the  English 
sparrows  as  soon  as  it  is  made,"  answered  Mis- 
tress Bluebird,  in  a  short,  querulous  tone. 

"  I  never  can  be  happy  a  moment  in  that  martin 
box,"  she  continued;  "and  if  I  have  to  go  over  there 
against  my  will,  I  am  quite  sure  that  not  one  of  my 
eggs  will  ever  hatch  out." 

There  was  a  little  more  sharp  discussion  between 
them,  and  then  both  birds  rose  from  the  ground 

and  flew  directly  toward 
the  old,  mossy  stump. 

The  mistress  of  the 
household  had  gained 
the  day,  and  the  work 
of  building  soon  began. 
The  nest  was  not 
very  tastefully  built ; 
but  it  was  lined  with 
some  soft  grass,  a  few  feathers,  and  a  bit  of  wool, 
and  was  quite  comfortable. 

Not  long  afterwards,  there  were  five  light-blue 
eggs  laid  within  it,  and  everything  seemed  to  go 
well. 


Bluebirds'  Nest. 


But  before  the  mistress  settled  down  to  steady 
domestic  care,  the  happy  couple  must  needs  go 
forth  together  for  a  little  outing ;  so  away  they  sped 
to  their  old  luncheon  quarters  in  the  garden. 

But  who  is  this  that  comes  peeping  into  their 
door  while  they  are  away  ?  Is  it  some  ill-bred 
country  cousin  ? 

He  is  clothed  in  blue;  but  his  body  is  nearly 
twice  the  length  of  the  bluebird,  and  is  of  a  light, 
purplish  shade,  while  his  wings  are  of  a  still 
deeper  tint,  barred  with  black  lines,  and  tipped, 
here  and  there,  with  white. 

He  wears  a  jaunty  tufted  cap  on  his  head,  a 
patch  of  white  down  at  the  throat,  and  a  narrow 
black  collar  that  is  quite  high  in  the  neck  behind. 

The  twelve  feathers  of  his  rounded  tail  are 
barred  with  black  lines,  and  tipped  at  the  ends 
with  white. 

He  is  very  handsomely  dressed,  —  but  what 
manners ! 

For,  without  waiting  for  an  invitation,  he  flies 
straight  in  at  the  door!  And  what  can  he  be 
doing  there  so  long,  with  no  one  to  entertain 
him  ? 

Now  he  comes  out,  lights  on  the  top  of  the  stump, 
and  utters  a  shrill  cry,  —  "jay- jay- jay,"  —  as  much  as 
to  say,  "  Yes,  that  is  my  name.  I  am  the  thief  that 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  —  1 1 


162 


sucked  those  little  blue  eggs,  and  left  nothing  but 
empty  shells  behind !  "  and  away  he  goes  to  break 
up  some  other  home. 

By  and  by,  the  owners  of  the  nest  return.  The 
mother  bird  enters  the  house  at  once,  while  her 

mate  alights  on  the 
stump,  and  warbles  a 
low,  soft  tune. 

But  what  is  all  this 
bustle  about  ?  Mis- 
tress Bluebird  flies 
swiftly  out  at  the 
door,  and  in  an  agi- 
tated tone  calls  her 
mate  to  "just  come 
and  look  here  !  " 

Then  she  goes  back, 
and  he  darts  in  after 
her,  and  then  they  both  come  out  again,  and  cast 
quick,  searching  looks  all  around  them  ;  and  pretty 
soon  they  return  to  the  nest,  to  make  themselves 
sure  that  there  is  no  mistake  about  it. 

But  it  is  too  sadly  true.  Some  winged  robber  has 
stolen  into  their  quiet  home  and  left  nothing  be- 
hind him  but  empty  shells.  It  is  hard  to  believe 
it,  but  there  is  no  chance  for  doubt ;  so  they  must 
seek  new  quarters  and  begin  all  over  again. 


The  Blue  Jay. 


Now  they  fly  to  the  open  door  of  the  martin 
house,  and  this  time  Mistress  Bluebird  raises  no 
objections ;  for  she  is  so  mute  with  grief  and 
disappointment  that  she  is  willing  to  go  any- 
where. 

They  soon  build  another  cozy  nest,  and  again 
five  light-blue  eggs  are  laid  within  it;  and  the 
little  housekeeper  at  once  settles  down  to  her 
duties. 

Her  mate  goes  forth  on  glad  wings  and  brings 
her  all  the  rare  morsels  that  he  can  find,  and  gives 
her,  now  and  then,  a  kiss  in  the  bargain. 

Finally  there  comes  a  faint  "peep,  peep"  from 
fiv*  tiny  bills,  and  then  who  can  be  happier  than 
the  joint  owners  of  that  household  ? 

Mistress  Bluebird  seems  to  have  almost  entirely 
forgotten  her  sorrow ;  and  as  for  the  master  of  the 
house,  he  warbles  a  song  so  full  of  melody  that  it 
does  seem  as  if  he  must  have  a  real  Swiss  music 
box  hidden  away  under  his  glossy  breast. 

His  wife  responds  with  a  low,  happy  chirrup,  and 
says,  "  How  glad  I  am  that  we  chose  this  martin 
box;  it  is  just  the  place  for  us,  so  roomy  and  so 
safe,  withal." 

And  he  tries  to  keep  down  a  sly,  liquid  chuckle, 
as  he  replies,  "  I  told  you  so,  my  dear;  I  told  you 
so!" 


164 


ALWAYS   AT   HOME. 

ONE  morning,  a  noisy  drone  honeybee  was  buzz- 
ing about  among  some  sweet  clover  blossoms,  when 

all  at  once  he  came  upon 
a  slow-plodding  snail. 

"  You  poor  thing,"  said 
he;  "how  I  do  pity  you!" 
"  Pray  why  do  you  pity 
me  ?  "  answered  the  snail, 
"  I  have  no  need  of  your 
pity." 

"  Because  I  never  see  you 
without  that  heavy  burden 
on  your  shoulders;  and  I  am 
sure  it  must  take  you  at  least 
a  whole  week  to  get  across 
this  small  patch  of  clover, 
while  I  go  over  and  over  it 
many  times  a  day. 

"  Just    look    at   my  four 
light  wings  now  !    Is  it  any 
wonder  that  I  know  all  about  this  field  of  clover  ? " 

At  this  the  snail  stretched  out  two  long  horns. 
In  the  end  of  each  horn  was  an  eye ;  and  she 
wanted  to  see  for  herself  the  drone's  gauzy  wings. 


The   Honeybee. 


i65 

"  Your  wings  are  very  good,"  she  said,  "  but  I  am 
better  off  without  them ;  for  I  can  travel  as  fast  as 
I  care  to  with  one  foot." 

"  Only  one  foot,  and  no  wings  at  all  ?  "  said  the 
drone.  "  Really  I  pity  you  now  more  than  ever. 
But  tell  me,  how  long  have  you  carried  that  heavy 
shell  on  your  back  ?  " 

"  Longer  than  I  can  well  remember,"  answered 
the  snail,  "for  I  was  born  in  it." 

"  Born  in  it  ? "  said  the  drone,  in  a  tone  of  great 
surprise.  "  You  do 
not  mean  to  tell 
me  that  you  went 
about  with  a  house 
on  your  back  when 
you  were  a  mere 

The  Snail. 

infant  ? " 

"  It  was  not  so  large  then  as  it  is  now,"  replied 
the  other,  "  for  at  first  it  had  but  one  small  room  at 
the  top.  But  as  I  grew  larger,  I  built  more  rooms, 
till  now  my  little  house  is  large  enough ;  for  it  is 
five  stories  high. 

"  I  do  not  find  it  heavy  to  carry  about  either,  for 
I  am  used  to  it ;  and  when  I  am  tired,  I  have  only 
to  creep  backwards  into  my  house  and  rest  myself." 

"  But  how  can  you  gather  honey  and  other  sweets 
from  the  flowers  ? "  asked  the  drone. 


1 66 

"  I  do  not  live  upon  honey,  as  you  do,"  replied  the 
snail.  "  Both  my  tongue  and  my  upper  lip  are 
covered  with  fine,  sharp  teeth ;  and  with  these  I 
scrape  up  and  eat  the  soft  part  of  green  leaves  and 
other  juicy  plants  that  come  in  my  way." 

The  drone  was  silent  for  a  little  time,  and  then 
he  said:  "  But  I  do  not  see  how  you  happened  to  be 
born  in  the  very  top  of  that  house  of  yours." 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  the  snail.  "  My  mother 
laid  a  number  of  small,  white  eggs  in  the  earth  ;  and 
when  the  babies  hatched  out,  they  each  had  a  little 
home  of  their  own,  like  the  top  of  this  house  of 
mine ;  and  as  they  grew  older,  they  made  it  larger, 
as  I  have  done." 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  other,  "  so  the  top  of  your 
house  was  built  first ;  and  you  have  never  been 
away  from  home  in  •  your  life,  —  how  stupid  that 
must  be !  For  my  part,  I  love  a  life  on  the  wing, 
and  I  never  grow  tired  of  it  —  never.  But  what 
will  you  do  with  yourself  when  winter  sets  in  ? " 

"  I  can  pour  out  from  my  body  a  sticky  fluid  that 
will  dry  and  make  a  thick,  strong  door  for  my 
house ;  and  I  will  stay  inside  of  it,  snug  and  safe, 
all  through  the  cold  winter,  and  when  I  want  to 
come  out  I  can  push  the  door  open  with  my  foot." 

The  drone  went  buzzing  about  for  a  long  time; 
then  he  came  back  with  another  question. 


i67 

"  Now  what  would  you  do,"  said  he,  "  if  an  enemy 
should  come  to  your  door?  " 

"  My  enemies  can  not  harm  me,"  said  she ;  "  for  I 
can  dodge  quickly  back  into  my  house,  and  close 
the  door  with  a  soft,  pink  curtain  that  I  have." 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  house  to  hide  in,"  said  the 
other ;  "  for  I  have  no  sting  at  all  in  the  end  of  my 
body,  such  as  the  worker  bees  have  in'  theirs,  and  if 
they  choose,  they  can  fall  upon  me  at  any  time  and 
sting  me  to  death." 

"  Why  should  they  do  such  a  cruel  thing  as 
that  ?  "  asked  the  snail. 

"  Because  they  are  too  stingy  to  share  their  honey 
with  me,"  said  the  other. 

"  But  why  do  you  not  gather  honey  for  yourself? " 

"  Oh,  that  is  not  my  trade.  I  was  not  made  to 
gather  honey,  and  I  do  not  know  how ;  so  I  like  to 
fly  about  in  the  sunshine,  and  —  " 

The  poor  drone  did  hot  have  time  to  finish  his 
sentence ;  for  at  that  moment,  two  small  worker 
bees  chanced  to  spy  him. 

The  snail  quickly  drew  in  her  horns,  and  when 
she  looked  out  again,  the  drone  lay  dead  and 
helpless  on  the  ground. 

"So  much  for  being  always  on  the  wing,"  said 
she.  "  For  my  part,  I  would  rather  stay  at  home 
all  the  days  of  my  life." 


1 68 


The  Garden  Spider. 


A   SKILLFUL    SPINNER. 

HAVE  you  ever  watched  the  cunning  spider  as  she 
makes  the  strong  silken  nest  for  her  eggs  and  spins 
her  pretty  lace  snares  in  the  corner  of  your  room  or 
across  the  windowpane  ? 

As  you  see  her  at  work,  you  may  wonder  what 
use  she  can  possibly  have  for  so  many  legs ;  for 
there  are  eight  of  them  in  all,  and  if  you  look 
at  them  closely,  you  will  see  that  they  are  many- 
jointed,  and  covered  with  stiff  hairs. 

Ah,  the  poor  fly  that  is  caught  in  her  snare  would 
explain  it  to  you,  if  he  could  only  speak  ;  for,  as 
she  glares  at  him  with  her  eight  beadlike  eyes,  she 


i69 

weaves  him  a  shroud,  at  the  same  time,  with  her 
eight  busy  feet. 

Her  third  pair  of  legs  are  the  shortest,  and  with 
these  she  holds  the  helpless  insect  and  turns  him 
over  and  over,  —  upon  his  face  and  upon  his  back, 
just  whichever  pleases  her  best;  in  fact,  she  seems 
to  use  these  short  legs  in  the  place  of  hands. 

The  silken  thread  with  which  she  shrouds  the 
fly  is  drawn  from  some  small  tubes  upon  the  under 
side  of  her  abdomen,  very  near  the 
end. 

These  tubes  are  the  spinnerets, 
or  spools,  out  of  which  flows  a 
clear,  sticky  fluid.  She  draws  out 

-  .  Spinnerets. 

this  fluid  in  a  very  fine  stream  and 
guides  it  with  her  hind  pair  of  feet.     The  air  dries 
and  hardens  it  at  once,  and  it  then  becomes  a  fine, 
silken  thread. 

When  the  spinning  tubes  are  kept  apart,  many 
single  threads  may  be  formed ;  but  when  they  are 
held  close  together,  they  are  all  blended  into  one 
band. 

As  she  pulls  it  out,  —  not  "hand  over  hand" 
exactly,  but  "  foot  over  foot,"  she  winds  it  round 
and  round  the  body  of  the  poor  fly,  till  it  can  not 
help  itself  at  all. 

Then  she  hangs  it  up  in  her  web,  to  suck  its 


juices  whenever  she  gets  hungry.  If  anything 
touches  her  web,  she  knows  it  at  once ;  and 
draws  in  all  her  feet  towards  her  body,  so  as 
to  tighten  the  threads  of  her  snare. 

So  you  see  she  does  have  use  for  every  one  of 
those  eight  bristly  legs  of  hers,  after  all. 

You  have  already  learned  that  the  body  of  an 
insect  is  divided  into  three  parts ;  but  if  you  look 
closely  at  a  spider,  you  will  see  that  the  head  is 
joined  to  the  thorax,  without  any  neck  between 
them. 

So  we  may  not  speak  of  the  spider  as  an  insect. 
There  are  a  few  insects  that  have  not  a  very  long 
neck,  but  their  heads  are  not  set  closely  to  the 
thorax  like  that  of  the  spider. 

The  eyes  of  a  spider  are  usually  eight  in  number; 
and  they  are  placed  on  the  top  of  the  head  in  two 
rows,  with  four  eyes  in  each  row.  Spiders  can  not 
move  their  eyes ;  but  they  have  so  many  of  them 
that  they  can  look  in  all  directions  at  once. 

The  mouth  parts  of  a  spider  consist  of  an  upper 
and  a  lower  lip,  and  two  pairs  of  strong  jaws.  The 
two  upper  jaws  are  placed  side  by  side ;  and  the 
two  lower  jaws  are  set  close  together  in  the  same 
way. 

The  upper  jaws  are  curved,  and  are  quite  stiff 
and  horny.  These  jaws  are  the  spider's  fangs;  and. 


I/I 

at  the  base  of  each  fang  there  is  a  small  sac  that  is 
filled  with  poison. 

The  lower  pair  of  jaws  is  smaller  than  the  upper 
pair,  and  not  quite  as  strong. 

On  each  side  of  the  lower  pair  of 
jaws  there  is  a  five-jointed  member 
that  looks  something  like  a  spider's 
leg,  only  it  is  very  much  shorter ;  these 
are  its  feelers,  and  with  these  short 

.  .  .  A  Spider's  Jaws. 

feelers  it  seizes  its  prey. 

At  the  end  of  each  bristly  leg,  there  is  a  claw, 
well  covered  with  stiff  hairs ;  and  with  these  hair- 
covered  claws  the  spider  can  creep  up  a  very 
smooth  wall. 

But  if  it  wants  to  get  down  from  a  high  wall,  or 
from  the  branch  of  a  tree,  it  fastens  one  end  of  a 
thread  there,  and  then  lets  itself  down  to  the 
ground. 

Nearly  all  spiders  build  snares; 
but   the    mother    spider    makes    a 
much  better  net  than  that  of   her 
lH\u 'rUT|||/////j         mate.      Once    in    awhile    a    father 
and  a  mother  spider  may  be  found 

A  Spider's  Foot.         ,.    .  ,-,  it  ,-,- 

living  in  the  same  web ;    but  this 
does  not  often  happen. 

Young  spiders  spin  very  small  webs,  but  their 
work  is  perfect. 


Many  of  the  webs  that  we  see  are  round  in 
form ;  and  the  spiders  that  make  them  are  called 
orb  weavers,  because  the  word  "  orb  "  means  "  circle." 

And  now  let  us  learn  something  about  the  work 
of  the  little  orb  weaver. 

When  this  spider  finds  a  good  place  for  her  orb, 
she  first  spins  some  strong  lines  to  make  a  frame- 
work; this  framework  often  has  four  sides,  and 
sometimes  it  has  even  more,  and  the  lines  of 
which  it  is  spun  are  made  up  of  five  or  six  silken 
threads. 

Then  across  this  framework,  she  spins  a  few 
strong  lines,  from  corner  to  corner.  Now  her 
foundation  is  laid ;  and  from  its  center,  she  spins 
a  number  of  fine  threads,  and  fastens  the  end  of 
each  thread  to  the  sides  of  her  framework. 

These  fine  threads  stretch  out  from  the  center 
of  the  web,  somewhat  as  the  spokes  of  a  wheel 
reach  toward  the  hub;  but  they  are  not  always 
the  same"  distance  apart  from  one  another.  These 
threads  are  called  the  rays  of  the  web. 

Now  she  begins  at  the  center  again,  and  spins  a 
thread  across  the  rays ;  and  as  she  goes  round  and 
round  toward  the  outside  lines  of  her  framework, 
she  glues  her  threads  to  each  fine  ray.  These 
threads  are  called  spiral  lines,  because  they  wind 
round  and  round. 


173 

But  her  web  is  not  yet  complete ;  for  she  must 
now  spin  some  more  spiral  lines  in  the  spaces  be- 
tween those  that  are  already  done,  and  these  last 
threads  that  she  spins  are  covered  with  small  gluey 
specks  that  look  like  little  beads. 

Ah,  it  is  these  small,  sticky  beads  that  hold  the 
poor  insects  fast  when  they  chance  to  light  upon 
the  snare. 

And  now  Mistress  Spider  is  ready  to  take  her 
place  on  the  web,  where,  with  head  downward,  she 
awaits  her  prey.  It  will  not  be  very  long  before  a 
fly  or  a  moth  will  venture  to  step  upon  one  of  the 
silken  threads. 

Then  it  will  struggle  to  free  itself,  and  the  gluey 
beads  of  the  fine  spiral  lines  will  melt  upon  its 
wings  or  upon  its  legs,  and  Mistress  Spider  will 
see  to  the  rest. 

She  has  already  woven  her  egg  case ;  it  is  a 
round  silken  cocoon,  and  she  guards  it  with  great 
care.  Sometimes  it  is  made  fast  to  the  corner  of 
a  window  near  where  she  spins  her  web. 

Some  spiders  carry  the, cocoon  about  with  them; 
and  when  the  young  spiders  are  hatched  out,  they 
ride  about  upon  their  mother's  back. 

Spiders  molt,  or  cast  off  their  skins,  six  times 
before  they  become  full-grown ;  so  when  they  get 
their  seventh  suit,  that  is  the  last. 


174 


Many  spiders  hide  themselves  away  during  the 
winter  months ;  and  that  is  why  they  are  so  often 
seen  spinning  their  webs  so  early  in  the  spring. 
Although   most  spiders  do  not  live  more  than 

a  year,  yet  some 
kinds  have  been 
known  to  live 
much  longer. 

The  spiders  that 
we  see  about  us,  in 
outhouses,  in  gar- 
den, and  fields,  are 
harmless  creatures; 
they  will  not  bite 
us ;  and  even  if 
they  should  nip  us 
with  their  small 
jaws,  it  would  do 
us  no  harm. 

And  they  can 
build  rafts  and 
sail  upon  the  water;  and  they  can  throw  out 
threads  upon  the  air  and  make  little  balloons  that 
will  carry  them  up  as  high  as  the  top  of  a  tall  tree. 

They  can  even  build  silken  bridges  across 
streams ;  and  do  many  wonderful  things,  as  we 
shall  find  out  if  we  watch  them. 


Spider  Balloons, 


175 


A    DEVOTED 
MOTHER. 

AND  now  let  me  tell 
you  about  a  very  large 
spider  named  the  ta-ran'- 
tu-la. 

She    lived    in    a    wooden 
box,    having   a   glass    cover ; 
but    she    did    not   stay   there 
from    choice,    for    she    was    a 
prisoner. 

When  she  was  at  home,  she 
led    a    wandering    life    and    ran 
about  over   rocks  and   stones  in 
the  woods  and  fields  in  search  of  her 
prey. 

She  has  some  relations  that  live  in 
holes  in  the  ground,  and  that  line  the  walls  of 
their  underground  homes  with  silken  curtains 
of  their  own  spinning.  And  there  are  others 


Tarantulas. 


among  them  that  close  the  top  of  their  holes  with 
a  round  trapdoor  that  is  both  lined  and  hinged 
with  strong  silk. 

Both  the  body  and  the  legs  of  this  tarantula 
were  covered  with  short,  stiff  hairs  of  a  dark-brown 
color;  and  the  joints  of  her  legs  were  so  clear  that 
they  looked  like  thin  scales  of  mica. 

Like  all  other  spiders,  she  was  an  ugly  hunch- 
back ;  for  the  head  and  body  were  joined  together 
without  any  neck  between  them. 

On  the  top  of  her  head  were  eight,  beadlike  eyes, 
arranged  in  double  rows ;  and  she  had  strong, 
sharp  jaws,  with  a  poison  fang  at  the  base ;  and 
hidden  within  her  head  was  a  small  poison  gland. 

She  knew  well  how  to  use  her  ugly  jaws;  for 
when  a  living  insect  was  thrown  into  her  cage  she 
would  pounce  upon  it  fiercely.  Then  she  would 
tear  its  wings  from  its  body,  and  crush  it  between 
her  jaws  without  farther  delay. 

One  day  a  dead  and  withered  locust  was  given 
her;  and  when  she  saw  that  it  was  hard  and  dry, 
she  carried  it  to  her  dish  of  water  and  soaked  it 
well  before  she  tried  to  eat  it.  How  could  she 
know  that  dry  crusts  are  made  softer  by  being 
soaked  in  water? 

Very  soon  after  this,  Mrs.  Tarantula  began  to 
spin  some  soft  white  threads  across  the  inside 


177 

cover  of  her  box.  These  threads  she  fastened, 
here  and  there,  with  a  little  tuft  of  silk,  so  that 
the  whole  thing  looked  very  much  like  a  patch  of 
thin,  dotted  muslin,  only  that  it  was  finer  and 
more  glossy. 

This  was  the  foundation  of  her  cocoon ;  and 
when  it  was  well  laid,  she  deposited  her  eggs 
there,  and  inclosed  them  with  a  closely-spun  cov- 
ering. 

The  cocoon  was  nearly  round  in  form,  and  as 
white  and  glossy  as  a  white  satin  cushion. 

When  it  was  completed,  she  placed  her  body 
over  it,  and  stretched  out  her  eight  long  legs,  so 
that  her  feet  pressed  closely  against  the  founda- 
tion lines  of  her  egg  case. 

From  that  time,  she  would  neither  eat  nor  drink, 
and  if  she  ever  slept  at  all,  it '  must  have  been 
with  one  eye  closed,  and  the  other  seven  eyes 
wide  open. 

It  was  in  vain  to  try  to  tempt  her  with  large  juicy 
insects,  or  with  any  other  rare  dainties  of  the  kind ; 
for  her  motherly  heart  was -dead  to  everything  in 
the  world  excepting  the  care  of  that  precious  egg 
basket. 

Every  day  the  cocoon  increased  in  size ;  and 
every  day  the  faithful  sentinel  that  guarded  it 
grew  weaker. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  — 12 


And  finally,  after  she  had  fasted  for  two  whole 
months,  she  was  no  longer  able  to  hold  herself 
upon  the  nest ;  and  one  day  she  fell  to  the  bottom 
of  the  box,  too  weak  and  helpless  to  move  a  limb ; 
and  in  a  few  hours  more  this  devoted  mother  spider 
was  dead. 

I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  the  eggs  did  not 
hatch  out ;  the  young  spiders  within  the  cocoon 
must  have  died  through  the  lack  of  warmth  that 
their  mother's  body  would  have  furnished  them,  if 
she  had  remained  alive. 

But  had  they  lived,  there  doubtless  would  have 
been  a  very  large  family  of  them ;  for  the  tarantula 
spider  lays  as  many  as  one  hundred  eggs  at  one 
time. 

And  had  this  mother  spider  been  permitted  to 
hatch  her  brood  in  her  own  nest,  instead  of  in  a 
close  wooden  box,  it  is  very  likely  that  she  would 
not  have  died ;  for  some  spiders  of  this  kind 
have  been  known*  to  reach  the  age  of  seven  or 
eight  years. 

The  home  of  this  tarantula  was  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States ;  but  such  spiders  are 
often  brought  into  northern  markets,  concealed 
among  clusters  of  fruit,  and  so  they  may  some- 
times be  seen  and  studied  far  away  from  their 
native  haunts. 


179 


LINES   TO   A    SPIDER. 


PRAY,  busy,  hunchback  friend,      where  did  you  learn 


To  spin  that  pretty  web  ?  One 
To  copy  such  fine  lace,  so 
//#;z^- woven,  I  might  say,  but 


need  not  spurn 
rare,  complete, 
that  your  feet 


Spun  out,  instead,  the  wondrous       warp  and  woof; 
And  with  what   cunning       /J%    ,      skill — behold 

the  proof 
In    these    strong     silken         ^v*      threads,    that 

stretch  across, 
From  side  to  center,  bright  as  shining  floss. 


i8o 

How  innocent  you  seem,  —  how  modest,  shy; 
I'm  sure  I  should  be  caught  were  I  a  fly ; 
For  when  with  luring  tone  you  whispered  low, 
"  Please  walk  into  my  parlor,"  I  should  go. 

Weave  on,  weave  on,  my  patient,  hunchback  friend ; 
For  soon  your  work,  like  mine,  will  have  an  end. 
But  in  your  cunning  craft  I  claim  no  share ; 
For  I  but  spin  a  tale  — you  spin  a  snare. 


DO    YOU    BELIEVE   IT? 

ONE  day  in  summer  time,  I  saw  some  boys  very 
busily  at  work  on  the  edge  of  a  little  stream. 

As  I  came  upon  them,  I  noticed  that  they  were 
putting  some  long,  white  horsehairs  in  the  water, 
and  were  trying  to  keep  them  down  with  a  large 
stone. 

When  I  asked  them  why  they  did  this,  one  of 
the  lads  promptly  replied,  "  Why,  don't  you  see  ? 
We  are  going  to  raise  some  hair  snakes." 

"  Do  you  believe  that  you  can  do  it  ?  "  said  I. 

"  I  know  it,"  he  answered,  and  went  on  with  his 
work. 

Now  it  is  plain  that  some  ignorant  person  had 
told  these  boys  that  hair  snakes  were  produced  in 


that  manner ;  for  say  what  I  might  to  the  contrary, 
the  lads  would  not  listen  to  me. 

The  truth  of  the  whole  thing  is  this:  The  hair 
worm  —  for  it  is  not  a  snake  —  lives  mostly  in  the 
bodies  of  certain  insects,  such  as  the  water  beetle, 
the  grasshopper,  and  the  cricket; 
because  the  eggs  of  the  worm 
are  taken,  by  accident,  into  the 
stomach  of  the  insect  with  its 

....  -The  Hair  Worm. 

food  and  drink. 

But  both  the  eggs  and  the  worm  have  been 
known  to  pass  through  water  pipes  into  the  faucets 
of  dwelling  houses ;  and  although  such  worms  will 
not  live  in  the  human  stomach,  yet  it  is  far  better 
that  drinking  water  should  be  carefully  filtered 
before  it  is  used. 

I  once  saw  a  large  grasshopper  give  a  sudden 
leap,  and  then  fall  helplessly  over  upon  his  back.  I 
picked  him  up  by  the  head ;  when,  lo,  his  head  sep- 
arated from  his  body ! 

As  I  held  it  up  in  my  hand,  there  hung  from  it  a 
very  slender  hair  worm,  several  times  the  length  of 
the  insect.  The  worm  had  lain  coiled  up  within 
his  body,  and  had  gnawed  at  his  vitals  until  he  died. 

When  these  worms  become  full-grown,  they  leave 
the  body  of  the  insect  and  go  to  the  water,  where 
they  lay  their  eggs  in  a  long  chain. 


182 

And  it  is  at  such  times  that  we  often  see  them 
in  the  water,  looking  like  real  hairs  from  the  tail 
of  a  horse. 

A  strange  thing  about  them  is  that  they  may  be 
left  in  the  hot  sunshine  till  they  are  completely 
dried  up,  and  until  they  appear  to  be  dead ;  but  if 
placed  in  water  for  a  short  time,  they  will  come  to 
life,  and  be  as  active  as  ever. 

I  have  walked  along  the  borders  of  that  little 
stream  many  a  time  since  that  day,  and  have  always 
found  the  heavy  stone  on  duty,  holding  the  horse- 
hairs down. 

But  alas!  if  those  simple-hearted  lads  live  long 
enough,  they  will  find  that  their  labors  were  in 
vain ;  for  those  hairs  were  never  so  much  alive  as 
when  they  were  actively  employed  in  brushing  off 
flies  and  other  insects  from  the  poor  horse's  back 
and  sides. 

WINTER    FRIENDS. 

I.     THE    CHICKADEE. 

Do  you  know  the  little  titmouse 

In  his  brownish-ashen  coat, 
With  a  cap  so  black  and  jaunty, 

And  a  black  patch  at  his  throat  ? 

WHY  yes,  of  course,  we  all  know  him ;  for  he  is 
the  brave  little  chickadee  that  always  has  a  word  of 


183 

cheer  for  us,  even  in  the  coldest  winter  weather; 
and  he  is  no  more  afraid  of  the  ice  and  snow  than 
we  are. 

His  body  measures  about  five  and  a  half  inches 


The  Chickadee. 

in  length,  from  the  point  of  his  short,  black  bill  to 
the  tip  of  his  tail. 

He  wears  a  black,  jaunty  cap  upon  his  head  ;  but 
from  the  base  of  his  bill  there  is  a  narrow  white 
band  that  runs  all  along  the  sides  of  his  neck.  His 
pretty  wings  are  also  edged  with  white,  while  his 
slender  legs  are  of  a  light-blue  color. 


1 84 


And  what  an  active,  noisy  little  creature  he  is  ! 
His  loud  twitter  is  full  of  sharp  notes,  but  it  can 
not  well  be  called  a  song. 

His  mate  wears  a  suit  very  much  like  his  own, 
and  she  is  quite  as  lively  as  he. 

In  summer  time,  she  builds  a  nest  of  soft  grasses 
and  wool,  and  within  it  she  lays  six  small,  white 
eggs,  marked  with  specks  of  red. 

This  nest  is  usu- 
ally made  in  a  'knot 
hole  on  the  limb  or 
trunk  of  a  tree  ;  some- 
times it  is  a  hole  that 
a  squirrel  or  some 
other  animal  has  dug 
out  and  left. 

But  if  the  little 
chickadees  can  not  find  a  hole  of  this  kind,  they  will 
cut  one  in  the  tree,  with  their  strong,  sharp  bills. 

These  birds  like  to  flit  about  among  the  ever- 
green trees  in  winter,  where  they  can  pick  up  seeds, 
or  draw  forth  a  larval  insect  from  its  hiding  place 
under  the  loose  bark  of  the  trunk. 

So  you  see,  these  small  winter  visitors  are  our 
friends ;  for  they  feed  upon  the  hungry  larvae  that 
destroy  the  fruit  and  foliage  of  our  gardens  and 
fields. 


The  Chickadee's  Nest. 


185 

And  now,  in  return  for  this  good  service  of  theirs, 
let  us  scatter  a  few  crumbs  here  and  there,  upon 
the  snow-covered  ground.  They  will  not  be  long  in 
finding  out  where  the  feast  is  spread,  and  their 
little  hearts  will  be  gladdened  at  the  sight;  and 
I  am  sure  that  our  hearts  will  be  gladdened  too, 
when  we  hear  their  sharp  twitter  of  joy  and  surprise 
at  such  unexpected  good  luck. 

II.     THE    NUTHATCH. 

Do  you  know  the  pretty  nuthatch  in  his  suit  of  ashen  blue, 

With  his  dainty  bib  of  white,  and  his  hose  of  modest  brown  ? 
You  may  hear  him  sing,  sometimes,  though  his  notes  are  harsh 

and  few ; 

But  you'll  know  him  when  you  see  him,  by  the  black  upon  his 
crown. 

This  bird  is  a  boon  companion  of  the  little  chick- 
adee ;  and  they  are  often  seen  hopping  about,  side 
by  side,  trying  to  pick  up  an  honest  living  wherever 
they  find  it. 

The  nuthatch  is  fond  of  rooming  upstairs ;  so,  in 
springtime,  he  finds  a  hole  in  the  top  of  a  tree,  and 
there  he  helps  his  little  mate  build  her  nest. 

Then  she  lays  from  four  to  eight  white,  rose- 
tinted  eggs,  specked  with  brown. 

Under  the  bark  of  the  tree,  and  among  the 
cracks,  he  finds  many  a  rare  tidbit,  such  as  the 


i86 


V 


eggs  and  the  larvae  of  different  insects ;  so  he 
often  comes  creeping  down  the  tree,  head  foremost, 
in  his  search  for  them. 

Sometimes   he  finds  a  small,  broken   acorn   that 

has  a  plump  grub 
inside  of  it;  this  he 
will  crowd  tightly 
into  a  deep  crack  of 
the  bark,  so  that  it 
will  stay  secure  ;  and 
then  he  can  easily 
pick  out  the  choice 
morsel  that  he  loves 
so  well,  when  he 
wants  it. 

But  if  his  mate  is 
confined  to  her  nest, 
he  will  carry  the  rich 
prize  to  her,  instead 
of  eating  it  himself. 
Is  he  not  generous  ? 
He  is  a  cheerful 
little  fellow,  and  sings  quite  as  merrily  among  the 
branches  of  the  leafless  woods  in  winter  time,  as 
when  he  is  sitting  in  some  leafy  bower  on  a  bright 
summer  day. 

But  when  the  trunk  of  the  tree  becomes  smooth 


The  Nuthatch  on  a  Tree  Trunk, 


1*7 

and  slippery,  from  frozen  rain,  then  our  little  nut- 
hatch has  quite  a  hard  time  of  it ;  for  he  can  not 
very  well  make  his  way  along  the  smooth,  icy  surface 
of  the  trunk,  neither  can  he  get  at  the  fat  larvae  that 
are  so  safely  shut  in  beneath  their  icy  covering. 

Then  it  is,  that  you  may  see  him  flying  about  the 
door,  the  barn  or  other  outhouses,  in  search  of  a 
crumb  to  satisfy  his  hungry  craving  for  food. 

If  he  happens  to  find  a  fallen  nut,  he  will  soon 
break  it  open  by  means  of  the  quick,  hard  strokes 
of  his  bill.  But  it  is  not  the  nut  inside  of  the  shell 
that  he  cares  so  much  about ;  he  knows  when  there 
is  a  fat  maggot  within  it,  and  wants  to  get  at  that ! 

It  is  because  of  this  habit  of  hammering,  or 
hatching,  the  shells  of  some  kinds  of  nuts,  that  he 
has  received  the  name  of  "  nuthatch." 


III.     THE    RED-HEADED    WOODPECKER. 

Do  you  know  that  stylish  fellow  that  stands  rapping  at  the  door 

Of  the  helpless  larval  infants  in  that  tree  ? 
Now  he  turns  his  head  and  listens,  then  raps  louder  than  before, 

Just  as  if  to  say,  "  Why  don't  you  answer  me  ?  " 

That  is  the  handsome  red-headed  woodpecker. 
He  is  clad  in  a  suit  of  bluish  black,  trimmed  with 
bands  of  white. 


i88 


He  wears  a  white  vest,  also,  but  his  head  and 
neck  are  clothed  in  crimson  red.  Is  he  not  a 
beautiful  bird  ? 

With  his  strong  bill  he  raps  loudly  upon  the 
trunk  of  the  tree ;  and  as  soon  as  he  hears  the 

larval  insects  within  be- 
gin to  move,  he  says  to 
himself,  "Ah,  yes,  I 
knew  I  was  at  the  right 
door,  —  glad  to  find  you 
all  at  home." 

Then  he  forces  an 
entrance  with  his  bill, 
and  darts  in  his  long, 
barbed  tongue. 

He  brings  out  a  fat 
morsel  every  time;  and 
the  thievish  jays  that 
are  searching  about  in 
vain  for  something  to 
satisfy  their  hungry 
,  ,  crops,  look  upon  him 

Red-headed  Woodpeckers. 

with  envy.     If  he  were 

a  smaller  bird,  they  would  pounce  upon  him,  and 
rob  him  on  the  spot.  But  they  are  afraid  of  him, 
so  they  leave  him  alone. 

His  mate  wears  quite  as  fine  a  suit  as  his  own ; 


1 89 

in  fact,  these  red-headed  woodpeckers  are  very 
handsome  birds,  clad  in  a  three-colored  plumage 
of  red,  white,  and  black,  glossed  over  with  a  rich 
shade  of  steel  blue. 

They  make  their  nests  either  in  the  body  or  in 
the  limbs  of  a  tree,  and  they  do  not  line  it  with  hair 
and  moss,  as  most  birds  do ;  but  they  make  it  very 
smooth.  In  this  nest,  the  mother  bird  lays  six  pure 
white  eggs. 

In  winter  time,  they  may  be  seen  flying  from  tree 
to  tree,  and  they  are  always  very  careful  indeed  not 
to  chill  their  feet  by  lighting  upon  the  snow-covered 
ground. 

They  are  fond  of  making  a  dinner  of  larval 
insects;  but  they  often  seem  to  be  quite  as  well 
pleased  when  they  come  upon  a  ripe,  sweet  apple, 
or  a  fine,  juicy  pear.  They  are  easily  contented, 
you  see,  and  take  whatever  they  can  get. 

They  know,  too,  how  to  open  the  husks  of  the 
ripening  corn  with  their  sharp,  wedge-shaped  bills ; 
for  they  like  the  rich  milk  that  they  find  within  its 
kernels. 

But  as  these  birds  feed  largely  upon  the  insect 
world,  we  must  look  upon  them  as  our  friends ;  and 
so  we  will  permit  them  to  share  with  the  chicka- 
dee and  the  nuthatch  the  scattered  crumbs  that 
fall  from  our  table. 


i  go 


IV.    THE     GOLDEN-CRESTED     WREN. 

Do  you  know  another  bird  with  a  black  and  golden  crest, 
And  a  suit  of  olive  green  that  is  edged  with  brownish  gray  ? 

There  is  white  upon  his  forehead,  and  there's  white  upon  his  breast. 
For  he  loves  the  gayest  colors,  and  he  wears  them  every  day. 

This  beautiful  golden- 
crested  wren  is  often  found 
in  winter  upon 
evergreen  trees, 
such  as  the  spruce, 
the  cedar,  and  the 
pine. 

He  is  generally  in 
search  of  the  larval  in- 
sects that  lie  hidden 
away  under  the  scales 
of      the       evergreen 
cones ;    and  he  may  always 
be  known  by  his  fine,  golden 
crest. 

The  body  of  the  golden- 
crested    wren    is   fully   four 
inches    in    length,    and    his 
mate  is  very  nearly  the  same  size. 

She  likes  to  build  her  nest  upon  the  leafy  branch 


Golden-crested  Wrens  and  Nest. 


of  an  oak;   but  sometimes  it  may  be  found   upon 
the  bough  of  a  fir  tree. 

The  little,  round  nest  of  this  wren  is  very  neatly 
made.  It  is  covered  entirely  over  with  moss ;  but 
there  is  a  small  hole  at  the  side  of  the  nest  for  an 
entrance.  It  is  lined  with  soft  down,  and  within  it 
the  mother  wren  lays  from  six  to  eight  pure  white 
eggs,  specked  with  red. 

V.     THE    BROWN    CREEPER. 

Do  you  know  the  little  creeper,  in  his 

garb  of  reddish  brown, 
Having  narrow  bands  of  white  upon  his 

earlaps  and  his  crown? 
With  the  feathers  of  his  tail  finely  edged 

with  brownish  yellow, 
And   a  vest   of  silky   white,  —  do   you 

know  this  dapper  fellow? 

He  is  another  boon  compan- 
ion of  the  chickadee ;  and  he  is 
well  named,  as  you  would  say, 
could  you  see  him  creeping 
round  and  round  a  tree,  in  his 
journey  toward  the  top.  The  Brown  CreePer- 

The  truth  is,  he  finds  so  many  good  places  on  the 
way  to  lunch  at,  that  he  can  not  well  pass  them  by; 
for  the  bark  of  the  tree  is  filled  with  choice  dainties. 


1 92 

And  very  often  this  bird  will  build  a  nest 
between  a  piece  of  loose  bark  and  the  body  of  the 
tree,  where  he  can  have  a  well-spread  table  always 
at  hand. 

His  mate  lays  six  small,  grayish  eggs,  spotted 
with  light  brown ;  and  the  baby  creepers  that  are 
hatched  from  them  very  quickly  learn  the  ways  of 
their  parents,  and  travel  up  and  down  the  tree  as 
soon  as  they  can  leave  the  nest. 

VI.     THE    DOWNY    WOODPECKER. 

Do  you  know  a  little  bird  that  in  mourning  shades  is  dressed, 
Black  and  white  upon  his  wings,  black  and  white  upon  his  head  — 

Underneath,  a  bib  of  white  on  his  pretty  throat  and  breast ; 
While  above,  upon  his  nape,  gleams  a  shining  bow  of  red  ? 

This  is  the  suit  that  the  downy  woodpecker 
wears,  and  his  mate  is  clad  in  about  the  same  style, 
except  that  she  does  not  wear  the  flaming  red 
ribbon  on  her  neck. 

These  birds  are  fit  companions  for  the  others 
that  I  have  told  you  about,  for  they  do  not  seem  to 
mind  the  cold  weather  in  the  least. 

Both  the  male  and  the  female  are  carpenters  by 
trade ;  so  they  will  not  content  themselves  with 
a  deserted  nest.  They  build  a  snug  little  home  of 
their  own. 


193 


They  generally  select  a  fruit  tree  of  some  sort, 
and  they  seem  to  like  a  cherry  tree  as  well  as  any. 

The  male  begins  the  work  by  cutting  a  round 
hole  in  the  body  of  the  tree  with  his  strong  bill ; 
and  when  his 
good  little 
mate  sees  that 
he  is  getting 
tired,  she  turns 
in  and  helps 
him. 

They  build 
a  roomy  nest, 
sometimes  a 
foot  or  more 
in  depth,  and 
leave  the  door 
of  the  house 
just  wide 
enough  for 
each  of  them 
to  pass  in. 

Like  all  car-  Downy  woodpeckers. 

penters,  they  make  a  good  many  chips ;  and  these 
they  carry  away,  and  then  scatter  them  at  quite  a 
distance  from  the  tree  so  that  no  one  will  find  out 
where  their  nest  is  hidden. 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH. — 13 


194 

The  bottom  of  the  hole  is  made  very  smooth, 
and  upon  this,  six  pure  white  eggs  are  laid.  This 
curious  house  is  very  neat  and  comfortable,  but  the 
dear  little  builders  are  not  always  permitted  to 
enjoy  it,  as  you  will  see. 

For  now  I  am  obliged  to  tell  you  something 
very  bad  about  the  house  wrens. 

These  birds  will  often  watch  the  little  wood- 
peckers till  they  have  made  quite  a  large  hole  in 
the  body  of  a  tree  ;  and  then  they  will  drive  them 
away  from  it,  and  take  possession  themselves. 

The  poor  little  birds  fight  for  it  as  long  as  they 
are  able,  but  they  are  finally  forced  to  give  it  up. 

I  am  very  sure  that  their  little  friends,  the  chick- 
adees, would  help  them  defend  it  if  they  could ;  for 
they  are  not  mere  "  summer  friends,"  as  you  have 
already  learned. 

Do  you  know  the  house  wren  and  his  mate  ? 

They  are  small  birds,  having  a  body  not  over 
five  inches  in  length  from  the  point  of  the  beak 
to  the  tip  of  the  tail. 

*  You  would  hardly  believe  that  such  little  crea- 
tures could  rob  other  birds  of  their  nests,  would  you  ? 

But  the  house  wren  does  not  belong  to  our  list 
of  winter  friends,  although  he  has  a  cousin,  called 
the  winter  wren,  that  remains  with  us  through  all 
the  long,  cold  winter. 


195 


The  body  of  this  little  bird  is  hardly  four  inches 
in  length.  He  is  dressed  in  a  plain,  dark-brown  suit, 
having  a  few  black  lines  across  the  back;  and  these 
lines  are  touched  here  and  there  with  dull  white. 
Besides  this,  there  are  a  few  other  small  spots  of 
white  upon  his  body. 
In  his  tail,  which  is 
short  and  erect,  there 
are  twelve  feathers. 

These  birds  may 
often  be  seen  about 
the  dooryard,  or  fly- 
ing about  the  barn 
and  outhouses,  in 
search  of  crumbs,  lar- 
vae, or  anything  that 
will  keep  them  alive 
through  the  cold 
months  of  the  winter ; 
and  however  hungry 
they  may  be,  they  keep  up  a  cheerful  twitter 
through  it  all. 

Now  I  have  made  you  acquainted  with  only  a 
very  few  of  the  little  birds  that  stay  with  us  dur- 
ing the  winter  months.  But  all  of  these  are  our 
friends;  for  they  help  us  destroy  the  worms  and 
insects  that  infest  our  gardens  and  orchards. 


The  Winter  Wren. 


196 

And  should  they  come  hopping  about  your  door 
when  the  boughs  are  withered  and  bare,  and  the 
fields  are  covered  with  snow,  I  am  very  sure  that 
you  will  not  drive  them  away. 


SNOW  TRACKS. 

I.     THE    RUFFED    GROUSE. 

Ir  is  midwinter,  and  the  earth  is  covered  all  over 
with  a  counterpane  of  snow. 

The    silvery    rills    and 
streamlets  glide  along  be- 
tween their  flowery  banks 
no    more ;    for    they    are 
locked      up      in 
strong,    icy    fet- 
ters,   and     Jack 
Frost  carries  the 
key. 

Here  and  there 
a  clump  of  weeds 
or  grasses  rises  above  the  drifted  snow,  and  a 
few  frozen  apples  hang  from  the  leafless  boughs. 
But  the  birds  with  their  keen  eyes  have  spied  the 
tops  of  the  weeds,  and  they  are  going  to  make  the 
most  of  them. 


The  Ruffed  Grouse. 


Here  is  a  hungry  fellow,  clad  in  modest  brown, 
with  flecks  of  a  lighter  shade  upon  his  raiment. 
In  his  broad  tail  there  are  eighteen  reddish-brown 
feathers,  tipped  with  gray. 

He  combs  his  hair  straight  back  from  his  fore- 
head, and  wears  a  dark-colored  ruff  of  broad  feathers 
around  his  neck. 

When  he  has  plenty  to  eat  he  is  a  large,  fine- 
looking  fellow ;  but  what  a  lean  and  bony  creature 
he  is  now !  He  can  find  no  insects,  no  ripe  leaves, 
and  no  rich,  oily  seeds  such  as  he  feeds  upon  in 
summer  time. 

So  he  picks  up  whatever  he  can  find,  with  a 
thankful  heart,  and  only  wishes  he  could  get 
more. 

When  spring  returns,  he  will  sit  upon  the  trunk 
of  a  fallen  tree,  and  drum  loudly  with  his  wings ; 
while  his  mate  will  find  a  close  thicket  of  bushes 
and  there  she  will  make  her  nest. 

This  nest  will  be  built  of  loose  leaves,  and  within 
it  she  will  lay  from  eight  to  twelve  large,  yellowish- 
white  eggs.  When  her  young  ones  are  hatched  out, 
she  will  lead  them  from  place  to  place,  where  they 
can  find  plenty  of  berries  and  tender  buds  to  eat ; 
and  if  she  fears  any  danger,  she  will  give  a  loud 
cluck,  in  the  same  way  that  a  mother  hen  calls  to 
her  chickens. 


198 

Then  every  one  of  the  brood  will  hide  from 
sight,  in  an  instant,  and  it  will  be  impossible  to 
find  them. 

The  name  of  this  bird  is  the  ruffed  grouse, 
although  it  is  often  called  a  "  partridge." 

What  do  you  suppose  happened  to  some  birds 
of  this  kind  a  few  days  ago  ?  There  came  a 
dreary,  stormy  night,  and  the  poor  things  had 
nowhere  to  sleep,  so  they  made  their  bed  in  a 
deep  snowdrift,  thinking  that  it  would  keep  them 
warm. 

And  so  it  might  have  done ;  but  it  rained  during 
the  night,  and  froze  to  a  sheet  of  ice,  and  there 
were  the  helpless  creatures  locked  within  their 
bedrooms  behind  a  strong,  icy  door!  Was  not 
that  pitiful? 

Now  the  very  next  time  that  you  wish  yourself 
a  bird,  with  nothing  to  do  but  to  fly  from  tree  to 
tree,  remember  how  much  your  feathered  friends 
often  suffer  with  cold  and  hunger  outside,  while 
you  have  comfort  and  warmth  within. 

II.     THE    WOOD    MOUSE. 

Here  are  some  tiny  tracks  that  wind  in  and  out 
among  the  forest  trees,  making  little  zigzag  lines 
upon  the  surface  of  the  snow. 


199 

At  the  foot  of  some  of  these 
trees,  and  sometimes  higher  up  in 
the  trunk,  there  are  deep  holes ; 
and  here  the  wood  mice  have 
stored  away  nuts  and  other  choice 
tidbits  for  winter  use. 

How    much    wiser    of    you,    little 
white  foot,  had  you  put  your  goodies 
all   in   one    place ;   for  see,   there   are  large  tracks 
mixed  up  with  yours,  and   I  greatly  fear  that  you 
will  find  some  of  your  storehouses  empty. 

It  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  select  the  nuts  that 
you  have  tried  to  crack,  because  you  make  such 
bad  work  of  getting  at  the  kernel. 

If  you  were  sharp,  you  would  not  gnaw  a  hole 
at  both  ends  of  the  hard  shell ;  there  is  no  use  in 
doing  that.  You  had  better  watch  the  squirrel  — 
and  for  more  reasons  than  one. 

He  knows  enough  to  gnaw  a  hole  at  the  large 
end,  then  he  can  turn  the  shell  up- 
side   down    and    let    the    kernel 
drop    out. 

But  it  will  soon  make  very 
little   difference    to    you ;    for 
there  is  a  mottled  owl  in  that 
tree  yonder,  and  nothing  can 
The  Wood  Mouse  and  the  Owl.    please   him    better   than    an 


2OO 

early  breakfast  of  field  mice.  He  can  wait,  for  he 
wears  his  thick,  tufted  ear  muffs,  and  he  does  not 
mind  the  cold  weather  at  all. 

III.     THE    CHIPMUNK. 

The  chipmunk  leaves  his  tracks  on  this  snowy 
counterpane,  too ;  but  there  are  not  very  many  of 

them,  for  his  bar- 
rels and  bins  are 
pretty  full,  and  he 
has  no  need  to 
"  browse  "  around 
in  the  winter  for 
something  to  eat. 
He  is  too  good  a 

The  Chipmunk. 

provider  for  that. 

His  home  is  built  down  deep  in  the  ground,  with 
a  strong  stone  wall  at  his  door,  so  that  no  robber 
can  get  in  and  molest  him. 

But  whenever  there  comes  a  warm  springlike  day, 
he  seems  to  find  it  out  at  once,  and  up  he  comes  to 
see  what  is  going  on  above  ground. 

Here  he  is  now,  whisking  his  round,  narrow  tail, 
and  scampering  lightly  about  upon  the  crusted 
snow,  as  happy  as  a  boy  on  skates. 

His  eyes  are  large  and  bright ;  his  small  ears 
stand  up  erect;  and  he  has  a  very  pointed  snout. 


201 


He  is  clad  in  a  rust-colored  suit,  striped  with 
black  and  yellowish-white  lines.  He  wears  thin 
black  whiskers,  and  there  is  a  small  black  spot 

• 

upon  his  nose. 

He  is  lively  enough  now ;  but  when  he  first  came 
up  out  of  his  burrow  he  seemed  to  be  very  glad 
indeed  to  sit  still  and  sun  himself  upon  that  old 
maple  stump. 

But  you  should  see  the  chipmunk  family  during 
the  early  fall ;  then  they  are  all  busily  at  work 
gathering  nuts  and  other  winter  stores. 

They  have  a  small  pouch  inside  of  each  cheek ; 
and  the  nuts  that  they  gather  are  carried  inside  of 
this  pouch ;  and  when  the  pouch  can  hold  no  more, 
they  will  take  still  another  nut  between  their  strong 
front  teeth.  In  this  way  they  are  able  to  carry  as 
many  as  four  nuts  at  a  time. 

Once  in  awhile  the  young  ones  will  dart  off  and 
chase  one  another  along  the  fences  and  stone  walls ; 
but  the  careful  mother  soon  calls  them  back  with  a 
sharp,  quick  chirp.  This  means  that  they  must  stay 
with  her  and  finish  their  work. 

Late  in  the  fall  the  whole  family  disappear  and 
go  down  into  the  safe  burrow  which  they  have 
made  in  the  ground.  They  have  food  enough  to 
last  them  till  spring ;  and  then  they  will  come  forth 
again,  as  full  of  fun  and  frolic  as  ever. 


202 


IV.     THE    RED    SQUIRREL. 

Ah,  here  are  some  tracks  that  look  a  good  deal 
like  those  of  our  little  chipmunk. 

They  were  made  by  the  chickaree,  or  red  squirrel. 
He  has  received  the  name  of  "  chickaree,"  because 
he  makes  such  a  loud  chattering  noise  as  he  runs 

briskly    about    from    tree 
to  tree. 

Both  his  head  and 
his  body  are  quite 
as  large  as  the  chip- 
munk's, but  his  nose  is 
less  pointed.  His  round, 
broad  ears  are  covered 
with  short  hairs,  and  he 
wears  thin,  black  whiskers  that  are  a  trifle  longer 
than  his  head. 

His  long,  flat  tail,  as  well  as  the  upper  part  of  his 
body,  is  of  a  deep,  reddish  brown ;  but  his  throat, 
his  chin,  the  inside  of  his  legs,  and  all  the  under 
part  of  his  body  are  white. 

This  red  squirrel  lays  up  large  stores  for  his  win- 
ter  use ;   and  as  he  has  no  cheek  pouch  like   the 
chipmunk,  he  carries  the  nuts  between  his  front  teeth. 
Both  he  and  his  mate  may  be  seen  in  autumn 
getting  nuts,  seeds,  the  bark  of  trees,  and  food  of 


The  Red  Squirrel. 


203 

that  kind,  which  they  carefully  hide  away  either  in 
hollow  stumps  or  under  logs  and  brush  heaps. 

They  are  not  very  timid  animals ;  and  sometimes 
they  will  steal  into  storehouses,  where  there  is  plenty 
of  grain,  and  make  a  nest  there  for  their  winter 
quarters. 

These  little  squirrels  are  more  brave  than  the 
chipmunk  family,  and  they  do  not  hide  themselves 
so  closely  away  in  winter  time. 

But  the  two  animals  are  very  nearly  related,  as 
you  can  see  by  their  form  and  by  .their  style  of 
dress ;  in  fact,  they  have  been  called  half-brothers. 

V.   REYNARD,  THE  FOX,  AND  RANGER,  THE  DOG. 

Here  are  the  footprints  of  two  cousins ;  but 
they  are  not  very  much  alike  either  in  their  dress 
or  in  their  habits. 

One  of  them  is  named  Reynard,  the  fox. 

He  wears  a  coat  of  reddish  yellow;  his  nose  and 
his  ears  are  pointed,  and  he  has  a  bushy  tail  that  he 
may  well  be  proud  of. 

His  cousin  is  Ranger,  the  dog,  and  these  snow 
tracks  show  that  they  have  been  running  a  swift 
race. 

The  dog's  master  is  not  far  off;  for  listen,  there 
is  the  crack  of  his  rifle,  and  now  poor  Rey- 


2O4 

nard  leaps,  limping  away,  with  the  dog  following 
close  upon  his  heels. 

If  he  can  only  get  back  to  his  den  in  the  rocks, 
he  will  be  happy ;  for  home  is  the  best  place,  after 
all,  for  anybody  that  is  in  trouble. 


Reynard  and  Ranger. 

As  he  speeds  on,  he  leaves  a  bloody  trail  all  the 
way  behind  him  ;  but  the  dog  has  the  best  of  it,  and 
Master  Reynard's  handsome  fur  coat  will  soon  be 
in  the  .market,  and  it  will  fetch  a  good  price,  too. 

As  for  his  worthless  carcass,  the  crows  will  be 
glad  to  pick  that ;  for  their  hungry  "  caw  caw "  is 
already  sounding  in  the  distance. 


205 

Ah,  Master  Reynard,  we  might  feel  just  a  little 
sorry  for  you,  if  you  had  ever  shown  any  pity  for 
others  ;  but  you  have  not. 

You  are  fond  of  stealing  chickens,  and  of  killing 
birds  and  mice ;  but  like  all  other  robbers,  you  do 
not  like  to  be  hurt  yourself. 

But  then  it  is  your  nature  to  hunt  for  game ;  and 
you  have  no  other  way  of  getting  a  living.  So, 
when  we  come  to  think  it  all  over,  we  do  pity  your 
sad  fate,  after  all. 


VI.     THE   WEASEL. 

But  Reynard  is  not  the  only  sly  thief  that  leaves 
his  footprints  upon  the  snow ;  for  the  nimble-footed 
weasel  has  been  abroad  too.  There  is  no  mistaking 
the  marks  of  those  short  feet. 

And  if  these  tracks  were  to  be  followed  up,  they 
would  no  doubt  lead  to  some  poultry  yard  not  far 
away;  for  he  is  very  fond  both  of  eggs  and  of 
young  chickens  and  birds. 

He  wears  a  white  coat  in  the  winter,  with  a  tip 
of  deep  black  at  the  tail ;  but  when  summer  comes, 
he  will  put  on  a  fine  suit  of  reddish  brown,  with  a 
yellowish-white  vest  to  set  it  off. 

In  other  words,  the  white  hairs  that  make  up  his 
winter  coat  fall  out;  and  as  fast  as  they  fall,  the 


206 


reddish-brown  hairs  grow  in  to  take  their  places ; 
and  when  winter  comes  again,  the  dark  hair  falls 
out,  and  the  white  hair  grows  in. 

Animals  that  shed  their  coats  in  this   way  can 
easily  hide  away  from    their   enemies.     In  winter 


The  Weasel  and  the  Bird. 

their  white  fur  can  not  well  be  seen  among  the 
snowdrifts ;  and  in  summer  their  brown  coats  are 
readily  hidden  by  the  low  brushwood  of  the  forest. 

But  as  I  have  said  before,  the  weasel  is  very 
nimble  of  foot,  and  is  not  easily  caught  at  any  sea- 
son of  the  year. 

He  has  a  very  long,  slim  body,  a  small  head,  and 


207 

a  pointed  snout;  and  when  he.  is  peering  about,  in 
search  of  prey,  he  curves  his  neck,  in  a  snakelike 
manner  that  makes  him  look  very  ugly  indeed. 

This  animal  has  many  accomplishments.  He  is 
a  swift  runner  and  climber,  a  good  swimmer,  and  I 
once  saw  a  tame  weasel  that  could  dance. 


VII.     THE    NORTHERN    HARE. 

Here  are  the  tracks  of  the  soft-footed  creature, 
the  hare,  and  she  also  changes  her  garments  to  suit 
the  season  ;  for  now  she  is  clothed  in  white. 

And  this  color,  like  the  weasel's,  often  helps  her 
to  hide  herself  away  from  her  enemies ;  for  she  can 
conceal  herself  in  a  bank  of  snow  very  easily. 

Her  summer  coat  of  brown  hair  shields  her  in 
the  same  way ;  for  when  she  hears  an  enemy  on  her 
track,  she  leaps  into  a  thicket  of  low  bushes,  and 
then  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  find  her. 

This  timid,  innocent  creature  makes  her  home  in 
hollow  stumps,  in  brushwood,  and  in  holes  in  the 
earth,  where  she  always  prepares  a  nice,  warm  bed 
for  herself  and  her  babies  to  lie  upon. 

Hares  are  harmless  creatures ;  and  as  they  turn 
back  their  long,  soft  ears,  and  look  at  you  with  their 
great  eyes,  it  almost  seems  as  if  they  were  trying  to 
ask  you  to  befriend  them. 


208 


It  is  true  that  our  garden  plants  sometimes  bear 
the  marks  of  their  sharp,  chisel-like  teeth  ;  but  they 
will  not  stray  far  from  the  shelter  of  the  forest  if 
they  can  find  any  juicy  thing  to  feed  upon  there. 

They  wander  about  at  night,  in  search  of  food, 
and  their  long  hind  legs,  and  broad,  furry  feet 
enable  them  to  pass  very  swiftly  over  the  snow- 

^  ^ .        _^     ; ^  covered      earth ; 

sometimes  they 
hunt  under  the 
snow,  to  find 
the  leaves  and 
the  berries  that 
are  hidden  there. 
When  they 
hear  a  noise, 
they  stamp  upon 
the  ground  with 
their  hind  feet, 
and  then  leap  into  a  thicket  of  bushes  and  hide 
themselves. 

But  the  hare  family  have  some  enemies  from 
which  they  very  seldom  escape ;  these  are  the  hawk, 
the  owl,  and  the  weasel. 

So  when  these  poor  creatures  wander  about  on  a 
cold  winter  night  in  search  of  a  bud  or  a  leaf  to 
keep  them  from  starving,  they  are  likely  to  be 


The  Northern  Hare. 


209 

seized  upon  at  any  moment  by  one  of  their  fierce 
enemies,  and  destroyed  on  the  spot.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  they  are  so  timid  ? 


VIII.     THE    MUSKRAT. 

The  fur-clad  builders  of  those  grass-roofed  huts 
along  the  creek,  yonder,  have  also  left  the  marks 
of  their  feet  upon  this  snowy  counterpane. 

These  are  the  hardy  muskrats  whose  front  doors 
open  into  the  water.  They  have  stout,  thickset 
bodies,  and  are  not  quite  as  large  as  the  hares. 
They  have  very  small  eyes  and  small  ears. 

They  are  homely  animals,  clad  in  coats  of  coarse, 
dark-brown  fur,  filled  in  with  shorter,  finer  hair. 
Their  long,  scaly  tails  are  quite  flat,  and  are  almost 
naked. 

They  are  not  afraid  of  the  water,  for  their  feet 
are  webbed  and  well  made  for  swimming.  In  fact, 
they  are  very  fond  of  diving  and  swimming ;  and  a 
large  number  of  them  will  often  make  a  quick 
plunge  at  once,  and  play  about  together  in  the 
water  for  hours  at  a  time. 

When  they  go  to  their  huts,  they  swim  very  near 
to  them,  and  then  dive  down  under  the  water  and 
go  in  at  the  entrance. 

They  go  about  at  night  in  search  of  food,  and 

KELLY'S  SHY  NEIGH.  — 14 


210 

they  generally  gnaw  the  roots  and  stems  of  plants 
that  grow  along  the  edge  of  the  stream  on  which 
their  homes  are  made. 

But  they  can  not  always  find  what  they  like  best 
in  winter  time,  and  then  they  must  eat  such  food 
as  falls  in  their  way. 

It  is  plain  that  they  have  made  more  than  one 


The  Muskrat. 


visit  to  that  old  apple  tree  that  stands  on  the  edge 
of  the  forest;  for  the  frozen  fruit  lying  upon  the 
ground  bears  -the  marks  of  their  sharp  teeth. 

One  might  suppose  that  eating  so  many  hard, 
frozen  apples  would  give  them  all  the  toothache ; 
but  since  there  are  no  juicy  roots  and  grasses  for 
them  to  feed  upon,  they  must  take  whatever  they 
can  find,  or  starve. 

But  these   animals  are  used  to  hard  fare ;   their 


211 

homes  are  built  of  sods  and  coarse  grass,  and  they 
have  no  soft,  warm  beds  inside,  such  as  the  birds 
make  up  in  their  nests. 

And  yet,  they  are  wise  enough  to  build  their  huts 
so  high  that  should  the  water  of  the  stream  rise 
above  their  low,  mud  floors,  they  can  climb  up  into 
the  loft  and  nest  there.  The  mother  muskrat  often 
has  as  many  as  six  babies  in  one  nest,  and  she  and 
her  young  family  generally  sleep  upstairs. 

IX.     THE    GRAY    SQUIRREL. 

And  now  we  come  upon  the  tracks  of  a  gray 
squirrel,  and  what  very  long  leaps  he  has  taken  ! 
But  his  footprints  were  all  made  in  the  daytime ; 
for  he  loves  his  warm  nest  too  well  to  go  forth  into 
the  darkness  of  a  cold  winter's  night. 

His  nut  bins  are  generally  not  very  well  filled ; 
but  even  if  he  does  run  short  of  stores  in  the  win- 
ter, he  never  seems  to  grow  lank  and  lean  like  his 
cousin,  the  red  squirrel. 

It  may  be  that  his  large,  bushy  tail  gives  him  a 
well-fed  and  thrifty  appearance ;  for  "  fine  feathers 
make  fine  birds,"  we  are  told. 

There  is  a  large  family  of  animals  called  rodents. 
"  Rodent "  means  "  a  gnawer,"  that  is,  an  animal 
that  gnaws  the  food  upon  which  it  feeds,  such  as 


212 

the  wood  and  the  bark  of  trees,  the  hard  shells  of 
nuts,  and  things  of  that  kind. 

Now  our  handsome  gray  squirrel  belongs  to  this 
family  of  rodents ;  and  so  do  the  red  squirrel,  the 
chipmunk,  the  mouse,  the  hare,  and  the  muskrat. 

These  rodents  are  armed  with  strong  teeth ;  and 
their  four  front  teeth  are  very  sharp.  There  are 
two  of  these  teeth  in  each  jaw;  and  they  are 
shaped  like  the  edge  of  a  chisel. 

The  more  these  chisel-shaped  teeth  are  used,  the 
sharper  they  become ;  and  they  never  wear  out,  for 
the  growth  is  always  being  renewed  from  the  roots. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  these  animals  are  so  fond 
of  nuts ;  for  they  carry  four  strong  nutcrackers 
with  them  wherever  they  go. 

Do  you  know  the  gray  squirrel  when  you  see 
him  ?  He  wears  whiskers  that  are  longer  than 
his  head,  and  his  nose  is  somewhat  blunt,  like 
that  of  the  red  squirrel. 

His  cheeks,  his  nose,  and  his  pretty  round  ears 
are  of  a  yellowish-brown  color;  and  there  is  a 
stripe  of  the  same  shade  along  his  sides.  There 
is  also  a  dull  stripe  of  brown  running  from  the 
top  of  his  head  to  his  tail.  His  neck,  sides,  and 
hips  are  of  a  light  gray  color,  and  most  of  the  hairs 
in  his  long  tail  are  gray. 

In  summer  weather,  these  gray  squirrels  make 


2I3 


nests  for  themselves  in  the  forks  of  a  tree ;  their 
nests  are  made  of  small  twigs  and  of  leaves,  and 
are  lined  with  moss. 

These  light,  airy  nests  are  their  summer  homes ; 
but  when  winter  comes  on,  they  seek  a  more  secure 
shelter  in  the  deep  hollow  of  some  decayed  tree. 
Sometimes  as  many  as  five  or  six  baby  squirrels 
may  be  found  in  these  holes 
in  early  springtime,  and  when 
caught,  they  are  very  easily 
tamed. 

If  they  are  put  into  a  cage, 
having  a  wheel  inside  of  it 
that  will  roll  round  and  round 
whenever  they  climb  upon  it, 
they  will  keep  it  moving  an 
hour  at  a  time. 

In    fact,    they   seem    to    be 
quite  as  happy  when  confined 
in  their  wheeled  cages  as  they  are  when  leaping 
among  the  leafy  branches  of  the  forest  trees. 

But  they  never  lose  the  habit  of  laying  up  a  store 
of  food  for  winter  use ;  and  when  food  is  placed  in 
the  cage,  they  eat  a  portion  of  it,  and  hide  the  rest 
of  it  away  under  the  straw  matting  of  the  cage. 

Are  they  not  much  wiser  than  some  people  in 
thus  storing  up  a  morsel  for  a  rainy  day? 


The  Gray  Squirrel. 


214 

Now  we  might  go  on,  and  follow  these  snow 
tracks  for  miles  and  miles,  and  find  in  every  foot- 
print an  interesting  story  of  the  little  animal  that 
made  it. 

But  since  I  have  guided  you  so  far  on  the  way, 
I  am  quite  sure  that  you  will  be  able  to  pursue  the 
rest  of  the  journey  by  yourselves. 

It  will  take  you  a  long  time  to  come  to  the  end. 
In  fact,  I  am  afraid  that  you  will  never  quite 
reach  it.  But  whether  you  thread  your  way 
through  the  pathless  forest  in  the  long,  bright 
days  of  summer ;  whether  you  wander  beside  the 
margin  of  some  small  river  or  pond ;  or  whether 
you  follow  the  curious  tracks  that  are  left  upon 
the  newly-fallen  snow,  I  do  not  believe  that  you 
will  ever  grow  weary  of  the  journey.  For  every 
day  will  afford  you  new  sights  and  fresh  scenes 
that  will  amply  repay  you  for  all  your  toil  and 
trouble. 


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illustrations  are  an  important  feature  of  the  books,  and  are  the  work  of 
the  best  artists.  They  are  not  merely  pictures  inserted  for  the  purpose 
of  ornament,  but  are  intended  to  assist  in  making  the  reading  exercises 
enjoyable  and  instructive. 

BALDWIN'S  SCHOOL  READING    BY  GRADES 

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Second  Year,  160  pp.   35  cents       Sixth  Year,       240  pp.  .  50  cents 

Third  Year,     208  pp.   45  cents       Seventh  Year,  240  pp.   .  50  cents 

Fourth  Year,  208  pp.  45  cents       Eighth  Year,    240  pp.   .  50  cents 

For  the  convenience  of  ungraded  schools,  and  for  all  who  may 
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book  series  of  school  readers  will  be  furnished  as  follows  : 

BALDWIN'S  SCHOOL  READING— FIVE  BOOK  EDITiON 

First  Year,               128  pages 25  cents 

Second  Year,           160  pages 35  cents 

Third  Year,             208  pages 45  cents 

Combined  Fourth  and  Fifth  Years.     416  pages      .         .  70  cents 

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Supplementary   Reading 


FOR   ELEMENTARY  GRADES 


For  First  Reader  Grade 

Lane's  Stories  for  Children      .         . 
Easy  Steps  for  Little  Feet 
Johonnot's  Book  of  Cats  and  Dogs  . 
Johonnot's  Grandfather's  Stories 
Rickoff's  Supplementary  First  Reader 
Wood's  Companion  First  Reader     . 


25  cents 
25  cents 

17  cents 
27  cents 
25  cents 

18  cents 


For  Second   Reader  Grade 

Baldwin's  Fairy  Stories  and  Fables 
Baldwin's  Fifty  Famous  Stories  Retold    . 
Eggleston's  Stories  of  Great  Americans   . 
Golden  Book  of  Choice  Reading 
Johonnot's  Stories  of  Heroic  Deeds 
Johonnot's  Friends  in  Feathers  and  Fur  . 


35  cents 
35  cents 
40  cents 
30  cents 
30  cents 
30  cents 


For  Third    Reader  Grade 

Baldwin's  Old  Greek  Stories 

Baldwin's  Old  Stories  of  the  East    . 
Eggleston's  Stories  of  American  Life 
Kelly's  Short  Stories  of  Our  Shy  Neighbors     . 
Dana's  Plants  and  Their  Children   . 

Standard  Book  of  Tales 

Johonnot's  Stories  of  Our  Country  . 
Johonnot's  Stories  of  Other  Lands  . 
Johonnot's  Neighbors  with  Wings  and  Fins    . 
Johonnot's  Curious  Flyers,  Creepers  and  Swimmers 
McGuffey's  Familiar  Animals  . 


45  cents 
45  cents 
50  cents 
50  cents 
65  cents 
50  cents 
40  cents 
40  cents 
40  cents 
40  cents 
50  cents 


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receipt  of  the  price  by  the  Publishers  : 


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HISTORICAL  READINGS 

FOR  THE  YOUNG 


Eggleston's  Stories  of  Great  Americans  for  Little 
Americans 

Cloth,  i2mo.  159  pages.  Illustrated  .  40  cents 
This  book  of  stories  is  designed  for  young  pupils  of  the 
Second  Reader  Grade.  Its  primary  aim  is  to  provide 
reading  lessons  that  will  excite  attention  and  give  pleasure 
and  thus  make  the  difficult  task  of  learning  to  read  easier. 
Another  purpose  is  to  interest  children  at  an  early  age  in 
the  history  of  our  country  by  making  them  familiar  with 
its  great  characters  and  leading  events.  This  is  most 
effectively  done  in  this  little  book  by  entertaining  and 
instructive  stories  which  every  American  child  ought  to 
know,  and  by  vivid  descriptions  of  scenes  and  incidents 
which  pertain  very  largely  to  the  childhood  of  the  great 
actors  represented. 

The  numerous  illustrations  that  accompany  the  text 
have  all  been  planned  with  special  reference  to  awakening 
the  child's  attention  and  they  add  greatly  to  the  lessons 
and  purpose  of  the  book. 

Eggleston's  Stories  of  American  Life  and  Adventure 
Cloth,  i2mo.  214  pages.  Illustrated  .  50  cents 
This  book,  which  is  intended  for  the  Third  Reader 
Grade,  includes  reading  matter  that  is  intensely  attractive 
and  interesting  to  the  young — stories  of  Indian  life,  of 
frontier  peril  and  escape,  of  pioneer  adventure  and  Revolu- 
tionary daring,  of  dangerous  voyages,  explorations,  etc. 
With  these  are  interspersed  sketches  of  the  homes  and 
firesides,  the  dress  and  manners,  the  schools  and  amuse- 
ments of  the  early  colonial  and  pioneer  periods.  The 
stories  of  this  book  represent  in  a  general  way  every  section 
of  our  country  and  every  period  of  its  history. 


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Supplementary   Reading 

FOR   ELEMENTARY   GRADES 


For  First  Reader  G»£de 

Crosby's  Little  Book  for  Little  Folks  k  .  .  .  $0.30 

Lane's  Stories  for  Children            .  .  ,  "  .  .  .  .25 

Easy  Steps  for  Little  Feet    .         .  .  .  .  .  .25 

Johonnot's  Book  of  Cats  and  Dogs  .'."'.-  .  .  .  .17 

Johonnot's  Grandfather's  Stories  .  .  .  .  .  .27 

Rickoff's  Supplementary  First  Reader  ....  .25 

Wood's  Companion  First  Reader  .  .  .  .  .  .18 

For  Second  Reader  Grade 

Baldwin's  Fairy  Stories  and  Fables 35 

Baldwin's  Fifty  Famous  Stories  Retold 35 

Eggleston's  Stories  of  Great  Americans        .         .         .         ,         .40 
Golden  Book  of  Choice  Reading  .....         .30 

Johonnot's  Stories  of  Heroic  Deeds 30 

Johonnot's  Friends  in  Feathers  and  Fur       .  .30 

For  Third   Reader  Grade 

Baldwin's  Old  Greek  Stories 45 

Baldwin's  Old  Stories  of  the  East 45 

Eggleston's  Stories  of  American  Life 50 

Kelly's  Short  Stories  of  our  Shy  Neighbors  ...         .50 

Standard  Book  of  Tales        .......         .50 

Johonnot's  Stories  of  our  Country         .....         .40 

Johonnot's  Stories  of  Other  Lands 40 

Johonnot's  Neighbors  with  Wings  and  Fins         ...         .40 

Johonnot's  Curious  Flyers,  Creepers,  and  Swimmers    .         .         .40 
McGuffey's  Familiar  Animals       ......         .50 

Holbrook's  'Round  the  Year  in  Myth  and  Song    ...         .60 

Carpenter's  Geographical  Reader — Asia 60 


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receipt  of  the  price  by  the  Publishers  : 

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Supplementary  Reading 

FOR    INTERMEDIATE    GRADES 


Defoe's  Robinson  Crusoe $0.50 

Guerber's  Story  of  the  Greeks     .         .'        .        .        .         .  '-    .         .60 

Guerber's  Story  of  the  Romans  .         .         .        .        .         ...       .60 

Guerber's  Story  of  the  Chosen  People          .        .        .        .        .         .60 

Clarke's  Story  of  Troy      . .        .        .        .         ...         .         .60 

Clarke's  Story  of  Aeneas 

Clarke's  Story  of  Caesar     . . 

Clarke's  Arabian  Nights     .         . 6C 

Johonnot's  Stories  of  the  Olden  Time 5* 

Johonnot's  Ten  Great  Events  in  History     .         .         .         .         .         .54 

Johonnot's  Neighbors  with  Claws  and  Hoofs      ....         .54 

McGuffey's  Living  Creatures  of  Water,  Land,  and  Air       .  •—    ,—  .50 
Dana's  Plants  and  their  Children         .         .         .         .         .         .         ,65 

Readings  in  Nature's  Book .65 

Geographical  Reader  and  Primer 60 

Monteith's  Popular  Science  Reader     .         .         .         .         .         .         .75 

Seven  American  Classics  (Standard  Series)  ....         .50 

Seven  British  Classics  (Standard  Series)      .....         .50 

Herrick's  Chapters  on  Plant  Life 60 

Treat's  Home  Studies  in  Nature .90 

Johonnot's  Glimpses  of  the  Animate  World         .         .         .         .       1.00 

Cooper's  Animal  Life          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .1.25 

Johonnot's  Geographical  Reader          .         .         .    '     .         .         .1.00 
Van  Bergen's  History  of  Japan  ......       1.00 

Shepherd's  Historical  Readings  ......       1.00 

Skinner's  Readings  in  Folk-Lore 1.00 


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address,  on  receipt  of  the  price  by  the  Publishers  : 

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NEW  YORK  *  CINCINNATI  *  CHICAGO 


Important   New  School  Books 

READING 

Baldwin's  School  Readings  by  Grades. 

First  Year    .  $0.25  Sixth  Year      ....           $0.50 

Second  Year  .     .35  Seventh  Year           ....      .50 

Third  Year  .     .45       Eighth  Year            50 

Fourth  Year  f     .45  Combined  Fourth  and  Fifth  Years    .      .70 

Fifth  Year  .  .     .45  Combined  Sixth  and  Seventh  Years     .80 

SPELLING 

Patterson's  American  Word  Book         .....         .25 

ARITHMETIC 


Baird's  Graded  Work  in  Arithmetic     Four  Books. 

Milne's  Mental  Arithmetic   .......         .35 

GEOGRAPHY 

Natural  Elementary  Geography     .          .         .         .         .         .         .60 

Natural  Advanced  Geography        ...... 

ENGLISH 

Metcalf  and  Bright' s  Language  Lessons.    Part  I.         .         .         .35 
The  Same.     Part  II.     .         .         .         '.         .         .         .          .55 

Metcalf  s  Elementary  English 40 

Metcalf  s  English  Grammar  for  Common  Schools         .         '.         .60 

HISTORY 

McMaster's  School  History  of  the  United  States  .         .       1.00 

PENMANSHIP 

Spencerian  Penmanship,  Vertical  Edition. 

Shorter  Course,  Nos.  i  to  7  ....        Perdoz.,     .72 
Common  School  Course,  Nos.  I  to  6  .  "  .96 

Curtiss's  Vertical  Copy  Books,  6  numbers     .         .  .96 

Ward's  Graded  Lessons  in  Penmanship  and  Spelling. 

Small  Numbers,  I  to  6  :         .          .         .        Per  doz.,     .72 

Large  Numbers,  I  to  6          .  .         .  .96 

MUSIC 

Natural  Advanced  Music  Reader 1.00 

Betz's  Gems  of  School  Songs 70 


Copies  of  any  of  the  above  books  will  be  sent,  prepaid,  to  any  address  on 
receipt  of  the  price   by  the  Publishers  : 

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THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JUN     8  1936 

JUN    10    193fi 

* 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 

